George Meets a Girl
by Claidheamh Mohr
Summary: An investigator with a cryptozoology museum meets a special girl
1. Chapter 1

George meets a Girl

This was inspired by Monster Musume

George Bryce dozed as the jetliner cruised at 40,000 feet. Beneath him, the world slipped from night into day as he headed eastward. His latest assignment from the Cryptozoology Museum's Field Investigations Department was to search for a legend. Ancient tales from the south of Algeria told of gigantic snakes with human heads. The tales were over three thousand years old and no modern investigators or expeditions had ever reported enountering any such beings. Still, the department wanted confirmation and an answer to the age old question all cryptozoologists asked;"Is there any truth to the legend?"

The changing vibrations of the engines and slight sinking feeling roused him from his nap, George sat up, readjusted his seat and buckled in. A series of thumps and bumps told him the aircraft was decellerating and making the long descent to the airport's runway. Glancing out the portside window he could see the city of Algiers sparkling beside the Mediterranean sea, there he would hook up with another department team member and then head further south into the forbidding Algerian desert. Soon, the jet's landing gear kissed the sun scorched tarmac and the jet slowed to a crawl before neatly pivoting to exit the runway and stop at the terminal.

After clearing customs and retrieving his luggage, George entered the lobby of the airport and saw his team mate waiting there for him. The sandy haired man had the lean sunburnt look of someone who had spent years prowling the hotter places of the world, he grinned at George and took off his mirrored sunglasses, his blue eyes twinkling in merriment.

"George, you old batchelor! Funny meeting you here!"

He declared as he rose to his full six-foot height and they clasped hands enthusiastically.

George grinned back and retorted,

"They've really gotta improve the security around here, you keep getting back in!"

Roger Tate his cohort, grinned at him and took one of his bags and slung it over his broad shoulders. He pointed the way and George followed him outside the airport terminal. The warm air outside washed over George and he commented drily,

"They would send me here after I had chased all over the Himalayas looking for yetis!"

Roger grinned at him and replied,

"This ought to be a perfect chaser for all that frostbite you had in Tibet. Sweating while chasing around the Saharan desert looking for lamias!"

"Oh yeah, trading frostbite and altitude sickness for sunburn and thirst? Just perfect!" muttered George.

They approached a battered, ex-French military, Citroen 2CV minus its top and heaved George's bags into the back seat area alongside Roger's bags. Climbing in, Roger started it up and soon, the tiny car was wheezing along at a giddy 50 MPH on what passed as a highway out of town.

After leaving the outskirts of Algiers, George yelled over the incessant rattling and clattering, "We're not seriously going to drive this old rattletrap all the way there, are we?"

Roger grinned at him and yelled back,

"We could, but they'd find our bleached bones where we died of old age during the trip! We're heading to a small town about a hundred clicks south of here, there's a regional airport there and we'll catch a flight on a Russian turboprop job piloted by one insane Frenchman, and hang on for our dear lives!"

"That good, eh?" asked George.

"Oh yeah, that good!" replied Roger.

George leaned his seat back as best he could and settled in for the drive.

Clattering and wheezing, the tired 2CV rattled to a stop at an airstrip outside of a small outpost left over from the French colonial days. George and Roger exited the vehicle and stretched a bit to loosen up the kinks that had set in during the drive. Lifting their bags out of the back of the car, the two walked over to what passed as an air terminal and set their bags down.

Roger opened up his satellite phone and pushed buttons for a moment, a few moments later he began speaking in French to the other party, then he'd pause and would soon resume speaking French. George sat and people watched until Roger finished, closed up his phone and announced drily,

"Monsieur Henri, will be 'slightly delayed'."

Roger lit up a cigarette, took a long drag and blew out an impressive smoke ring before he muttered,

"That Frenchman has an interesting view of what's urgent. If we were a couple of beautiful ladies? He would have moved heaven and earth to be here. Never mind what his Algerian wife might think!"

George chuckled and remarked,

"I knew I should've brought that Tibetan girl I almost married!"

"Oh? And just how did you, 'almost marry' a Tibetan girl? As shy around women as you are... That would've been news indeed!" commented Roger.

"Remind me to tell you about Tibetan courtship customs sometime."

"Scary?"

"Very scary, if you even talk to a girl, they're ready to slaughter a yak for the wedding feast. When all I really wanted was directions to the temple!"

Roger simply chuckled and commented, "That's more like you George, a wide-eyed innocent."

Nearly an hour later, a relatively dent-free Peugeot sedan screeched to a halt outside of the mud colored brick terminal and a rumpled looking man wearing khaki clothing and a dark red beret and with foul smelling cigarette dangling beneath his very Gallic nose, got out.

George remarked drily in a bad French accent.

"Let me guess... Monsieur Henri, no?"

Roger chuckled and replied.

"That would be an affirmative my friend."

Henri entered the terminal and Roger rose to greet him in French, the two spoke briefly and when Roger turned to George to make an introduction. Henri extended his hand and in excellent English, said,

"I'm Henry DuValliere, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

George grinned at him and as they shook hands, he said cheerfully,

"George Bryce. Henry, you just made my life a lot easier!"

Roger stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face, then he blurted out,

"You never told me you could speak English! We've always spoken just French."

Henri took a drag on his strong smelling cigarette, grinned and replied,

"Since you can speak the language of a civilized people? I, naturally, saw no reason to change things. Even if you do have a barbarous accent!"

George just laughed as they gathered their things, he decided he liked Henry DuValliere.

They approached the Russian built Antonov AN-28 with trepidation, like many Russian made things, it was a bit crude at first glance, but the important bits were finely finished and it looked serviceable overall.

Henri opened the side door and the built in steps swung out and down to settle on the tarmac, George and Roger climbed inside and stowed their baggage near the two cargo pallets in back. Having completed his walk around inspection, Henri pulled the wheel chocks away then climbed on board, pulling the steps up after him and securing the door.

Henri grinned at the two Americans and said, "The flight shouldn't take more than three hours, we will land near Tin Zaouatene, a village near Ft. Pierre Bourdes."

George settled himself in the most comfortable seat he could find while Roger took the co-pilot's seat, he too had a pilot's license and had flown medium sized aircraft before. After a bumpy take off, the twin turboprop Antonov climbed to about 10,000 feet and headed south. George watched the landscape change from the evergreen cloaked, northern coastal regions to the unrelenting browns and tans of the great Sahara desert of legend. An occasional bit of green would stand out in defiance of the tan vastness, a rare oasis where life could seek relief from the heat and thirst.

It was late afternoon when the Antonov began descending, the change in vibrations waking George from his slumber. The landing gear clunked into place and Henri gently set the sturdy Antonov down on the roadway near the tiny village. George idly noted a group of utility vehicles lined up outside a couple of the buildings there, this would be the cover group, an American museum's expedition seeking fossil whale remains in the deep Sahara. George and Roger would take one of the vehicles and while everyone else was climbing over the rocks seeking fossils, they would be seeking a legend.

Bringing the Antonov as close to the buildings as he dared, Henri shut down the engines and opened up the cargo doors while George and Roger unhooked the tie downs and cut away the self clinging plastic wrap. The young American paleontologists emerged from the mud brick walled buildings and formed a daisy chain to move the cargo from the plane to the buildings. To George, they looked almost like a bunch of hippies from the sixties, somehow brought forward in time and dropped off in the desert. With their ragged clothing and longish hair, he wondered what the locals thought of these supposedly rich Americans dressing so shabbily. The last of the cargo was handed out and the wooden pallets were tossed out of the plane while the two handed their own bags to the paleontologists.

Henri stood there with his ever present cigarette and a grin, he extended his hand and the trio shook hands all around.

"Good hunting!" he said, "May the legend live still! Call me when you are ready to come back to civilization."

George grinned at Henri and replied,

"Safe flight home, my friend. We'll be seein' you!"

Roger and Henri did a fist bump and grinned at each other, Roger said playfully,

"Don't wreck this thing, O.K?"

"Sure thing, Roger!" Replied Henri with a grin.

The two hopped down from the cargo door and helped close it up again, hearing the security catches locked in, they walked away from the Antonov and heard the turbines gaining speed as they started up again for the return flight. They stood watching while the Antonov roared back down the road and lofted into the darkening sky.

Roger glanced at George and said,

"Well, let's get loaded up for the morning!"

They entered the larger of the buildings and found themselves at the center of attention. Paul, the leader of the paleontologists, a compactly built, dark haired, intense man in his mid thirties spoke up,

"Okay, we drove this extra vehicle all the way down here, a vehicle set up for long range desert reconnaissance. With extra large fuel tanks and fuel cans hung off of it, and lots of extra water cans, you guys could get pretty lost out here and drive damn near back to Algiers without stopping for fuel or needing a drink. A cold drink I might add."

He paused for a moment then continued, "You have no digging tools, you didn't bring any tools but you did bring maps, very good maps, better than my own maps. Just who are you two, what are you up to, and how does this pertain to us?"

George smiled at him and replied pleasantly,

"We're from the crytozoology department of a private museum, a museum I might add, that paid for over half the cost of your expedition and arranged for the regular delivery of supplies by air. We figured that if we hitched a ride with your group, we wouldn't stand out so much and if we needed extra hands that just maybe, we could borrow some muscle from some of you guys."

The two stood still while the paleontologists exchanged glances with each other until finally, one of the young women asked,

"Cryptozoology, isn't that the study of mythical animals or people? Just what could you be looking for out here in the Sahara desert?"

Roger just grinned and replied,

"We're seeking the roots of an ancient legend, a lot of what we do is ask to hear the stories told by the old folks. The folk tales that are disappearing as the old ones die off and the stories are lost forever. We record these tales and store them on archival grade CD's, we have stories as told by the last living speakers of several nearly extinct languages. I myself, speak several Arabian languages and can find the story tellers to record them. That's what 'we' are about."

Another one of the paleontologists, a tall, slender, shaggy young man commented,

"So you guys aren't with the CIA or anything? Then what's with the military GPS and satellite antenna you have? It's pretty good stuff for a couple of guys wandering in the desert."

George laughed and replied,

"Well, that's a first! We're hardly spies people, we're collectors just like you. Only we collect legends and someday, we hope to find the creatures that inspired the legends in our mythology. We have good equipment because the museum doesn't believe in doing things half way. Plus we have donors who like us! Besides, once we're finished with our expedition, you guys'll get the vehicle and satellite equipment as a donation from us."

Paul, the leader of the group shrugged and handed over the keys to the Mercedes-Benz Unimog with all the 'trimmin's' as Roger had described it and remarked,

"Good luck to you guys, you'll need it!"

They loaded their bags into the back of the Unimog and proceeded to crawl all over it with their flashlights, checking all of the vital fluids at least twice, checking their spare vital fluids, tires (including the spares) and emergency tool kit. When all seemed in order, the two unrolled their sleeping bags and slept in the back of the Unimog.

Just before dawn, George finished topping up the fuel in all of the fuel cans and the vehicle's fuel tanks, all told they had almost 120 gallons of diesel fuel, enough to last them almost 1,800 miles. Roger finished entering the coordinates of the village in the GPS and once activated, it would be their primary navigation tool and was backed up by satellite image maps and a good lensatic compass.

Both men were well versed in land navigation and were confident they would find their objective, a place called In Azboua, a hidden oasis to the east. Their plan was to drive there and spend two weeks hiking over the hillsides and poking into canyons. When they had covered the area pretty thoroughly, it would be marked out on the maps as having been investigated, thereby saving any repetition by future investigators. It was early spring and they had three months to investigate the area before the scorching summer heat drove them out of the desert.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first part of the drive would be fairly easy, they had maps and satellite images showing traces of an old caravan route and on the ground, the route was fairly easy to trace through the otherworldly landscape of rocks and more rocks, sand washes and gravel pavements broad and flat. Roger being the old desert rat, did most of driving chores while George kept track of their progress via satellite link and GPS. By the end of the first day's drive, they had covered almost a fourth of the way to the oasis and had emptied three of the five gallon jerry cans of diesel fuel. After an evening's repast of surplus military rations washed down with a cold drink, they let sleep have its way with them.

At high noon the next day, they were following the meandering caravan route through the low hills and wadis they were traversing, when George spotted a bit of green off to his right and he yelled.

"Hey look! An oasis, wanna take a look at it?"

Roger brought the Unimog to a halt and looked in the direction George was pointing, he grinned at George and said.

"Sure! Why not?" It was only some two hundred yards away so they just parked the Unimog and legged it over to the oasis, with big hats on their heads, full canteens bouncing on their hips and an AK 47 slung over Roger's shoulder.

The cool greenery of the oasis was really tempting and after quickly checking it out, George doffed his hat and boots then waded in knee deep to splash the clear water over himself, he ducked his head beneath the surface momentarily and came up deeply refreshed, throwing his head back and sending a spray of water into the air.

Roger laughed and said cheerfully,

"Sorry guy! You'll never be a bathing beauty. You're just too ugly!"

George shot him the one finger salute, climbed back out and perched on a palm log to put his boots back on. Roger also doffed his boots and copied George's actions from earlier.

They sat on the palm log for a little while to let the warm air dry them out a bit and then walked back to the Unimog to resume their journey. As they drove away, George glanced back at the receding oasis and had the oddest feeling that he was being watched by something or someone, hidden amongst the densely packed palms.

Three days of tracing the now nearly invisible caravan route had led them to the ruined village of In Azboua. The oasis had long gone dry and with the water gone, the villagers had packed up their belongings and left the rest to the incessant desert winds. George was dismayed, the oldest legends of the lamias had come from this very place and now there were no traces of the villagers left, only the windblown mud brick ruins. Roger laid out the satellite maps and put up their GPS locator, he checked and rechecked their location and checked it a third time to put any doubts in George's mind to rest.

This was indeed the place, the people had simply gone elsewhere. That night, as the zephyrs whispered their ancient secrets, George made his report via a satellite link, he typed merrily away for several minutes detailing their observations and experiences thus far, he wrote out his plans for surveying the area as planned just in case they 'd overlooked something and then retracing their route back to Tin Zaouatene and their eventual pickup. He paused to re-read his report one more time and then satisfied it had no glaring errors or typos and was properly encrypted, he hit 'send' and it was on its way to his boss.

The next five days were spent slogging up and down the hills around the former oasis looking for any signs of the legendary inhabitants, the lamiae. On several occasions, George thought he saw remnants of lamia traces, markings that vaguely resembled huge snake tracks, but on closer examination, he realized he was just seeing things.

Roger didn't have any better luck and all they really accomplished was getting thirsty and tired out. It was the night of the fifth day there, that Roger was looking at satellite maps and comparing them to the older maps they had on file in the laptop.

When he superimposed the route they had taken and the stops they had made, he noticed that the oasis they had stopped at was not on the older maps, either it was recent or it had been missed somehow during the aerial mapping survey.

He called out,

"Hey George! Check this out! That oasis we stopped at? It's not on the older maps, but it's on the satellite maps. D'you think it's recent?"

George looked over what Roger had found and remarked, "Okay, it's not on the old aerial survey maps and those are at least fifty years old. The hole in your theory is that the oasis had some pretty mature palms there and some fallen growth. I think it would take more than fifty years to build up that much. It's possible that it was much smaller back then and not worth putting on a map only the oil companies would be interested in."

Roger nodded in agreement and pointed out a feature shown on both maps.

"See this long wadi? It's part of a wadi system that includes the old oasis we're at. Would it be possible that the oasis we found is a surviving remnant of an older riverine system of oases connected by now dried out streams?"

George asked, "D'you think we oughtta head back along that river trace then?"

Roger frowned and demurred, "I'd be reluctant to drive the actual wadi, some of those stream channels could end at a sudden drop off or get really narrow all of a sudden."

He looked at George for a few moments and said, "The caravan route pretty much follows the old wadi, so we won't be any real distance from it. We can pull over periodically and check it out with binoculars, if we see green, we'll go for a hike."

George grinned at him and agreed with a nod.

That night's report was a little more hopeful, George reported not finding any signs of lamiae in and around the old village, or its now dried out oasis.

He remarked about the oasis they had seen and briefly stopped at during a driving break, they had noted the wadi complex and its connection with the previous goal deduced from studying the maps and photos. Their next step would be to explore the wadi complex and look for signs of occupancy.

The next few days were ones of periodically pulling over, climbing on top of the Unimog and glassing the wadi for signs of greenery, if greenery was spotted they would leave the Unimog and investigate the area on foot. Mostly, they just left footprints all over the place, got thirsty and found nothing of interest. While Roger was topping off the fuel from the rack of jerry cans, he commented,

"We've got three cans left of spare fuel, plus the ninety gallons in the vehicle. This thing might get pretty good mileage, but if we don't find anything at that oasis? We're hitting the road and going straight back to base camp, lamia or no lamia!"

George who was checking the oils, looked up at him and agreed.

"Yeah, no point in getting stranded out here."

Roger grinned at him and said cheerfully,

"Oh, we wouldn't get stranded, I'd just hate for Henri to taunt me about getting stranded in his backyard!"

"Well! We can't have that now, can we?" replied George with a grin.

At midday they arrived back at the oasis, this time they parked next to it and spent some time setting up their camp and refilling the empty water cans from the oasis for their water supply and stored them in the rack, they even set up a camp shower, after two weeks without a real bath, both of them were standing upwind from themselves!

After George rinsed himself off and had dressed again, he remarked to Roger.

"Y'know, I had the oddest feeling I was being watched while I was getting the water. I didn't see anything, but still, I felt something."

Roger chuckled and remarked.

"Maybe a hot lamia girl was checking you out! Or maybe it was just the camel spiders wanting a piece of you."

George just laughed and retorted.

"Not me, I'm too short and ugly. But a strapping six-footer like you? Yum!"

The two men shared a laugh, George's main distinguishing feature was that he had none, he was slightly below average height, of average build and had a pleasant, easily forgotten face with brown eyes and hair. In short, he was the perfect operative and he had briefly considered the CIA at one point, though he finally decided he'd rather track down legendary creatures than chase spooks.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In the afternoon, George climbed the nearby slope and got a better overall aspect of the oasis. They were at the narrowest part of it, from where they were camped, it spread northward and filled the narrow valley there with greenery for almost a mile until it curved around the shoulder of the hills to the west and the end disappeared from view. He took several photos of the oasis and glassed it for awhile without seeing anything other than greenery.

The sudden chiming of his satellite phone startled him out of his reverie, it was Roger.

"Roger!? What's up?"

"You'd better get down here, I've found something interesting." replied Roger.

George replied, "I'm on my way!" and he slipped and slid down the slope on his boots like they were snow skis until he could jog over to where he saw Roger standing.

"Okay!? What is so interesting?" cried George as he trotted up to Roger, Roger turned and led him to the remnants of an old Tatra medium truck nearly buried in the fallen growth.

Roger commented, "I spotted this almost by accident when I was exploring the area. Anyone driving by or flying overhead would never see it hidden here."

George whistled and exclaimed, "What the hell is this doing here? Let's pull away some of the growth and see if we find anything."

"Or anyone!" added Roger, "Yeah, that too." agreed George.

A few minutes later, they had uncovered enough of the remnants to determine that there were no human remains either, in it or immediately nearby, nor had it crashed here. The bodywork, such as it was, had no substantial damage to any of the panels.

Roger put his hands on his hips and declared,

"This thing's been stripped! There's nothing of value left, just the cab, tool bed and chassis, this is definitely weird!"

George started photographing the hulk and noticed the faded outline of an oil company logo on the passenger side door, it had been a Shell Oil Company field survey truck.

George remarked, "Well, we know now who owned it at one time."

Roger took off his ever present Rayban aviator glasses, stuck them in his shirt pocket and commented, "I'd swear this truck was just parked here and the driver just walked away. What could induce someone to abandon their only link to civilization?"

"And strip everything off of it. They took everything, even the seats!" added George.

Walking back to their camp, George idly noted that something had passed over the tire tracks left by the Unimog.

"Hey Rodge! Were these marks here before?" he asked, Roger stared at the marks for a little while before saying.

"Y'know, I don't recall noticing them before, they do look like they passed over our tire tracks don't they?"

George started taking photos while Roger measured the width and length of the marks, then jotted down the measurements and looked them over.

The two looked at each other and Roger declared,

"I think we may have found a lamia! These are snake tracks, only there are no snakes in Africa big enough to leave marks this size. Only an anaconda would leave a mark of this scale, I figure the body would have to be about 12 to 18 inches in diameter to leave a track like this."

George began shivering involuntarily and Roger stared at him like he'd gone crazy until he asked, "Are you okay George? You're shaking like a leaf, you're not afraid of snakes are you?"

George grinned at his long time team mate and said earnestly,

"I'm not scared of snakes, really, I'm not! It's just that this is stupendous! No one has reported seeing a live lamia in over two thousand years, can you imagine the world's reaction? Cryptozoology will suddenly become a legitimate science, not just a field for crackpots and conspiracy theorists! You saw the looks on those paleontologists faces? They privately thought we were nuts!"

Roger reached out suddenly and grabbed hold of George's shoulders to give him a good shaking until George yelped, "What the hell are you doing?"

Roger looked him in the eyes and said hoarsely, "We'd still have to be careful! Remember what part of the world we're in? The dominant religion here has no sympathy for creatures not mentioned in their holy book. Any lamias found and publicly reported could be in danger of being hunted down and destroyed as monsters before the eyes of their God!"

The fey light of enthusiasm in George's eyes dimmed, he slouched a bit and said dejectedly, "Funny, hearing you being the voice of reason. Okay, we'll report our observations only to the department and let the big hats make the call."

Roger grinned at him and remarked cheerfully, "What a relief! Sensible George is back, you had me worried there."

"Yeah, yeah." muttered George.

That night while Roger snored noisily, George typed out his observations and inserted the photos of the truck and the tracks they had seen with a pocketknife laid alongside for scale. He hit "send" and the report was on its way. Meanwhile outside the tent, the night breezes sighed and whispered their ancient secrets. For a brief moment, George thought he heard voices whispering amongst the winds, but when he cocked an ear, they were gone.

Roger's muttering and clattering about woke George from a sound sleep. George raised himself up and asked sleepily,

"What's all the racket about? Did something happen?"

Roger grumbled and said, "I can't find my damn Raybans! I thought I'd left 'em outside by the Unimog, but they're not where I left 'em!"

George muttered, "You have a spare pair, don't you?"

"Of course I do, that's not the point, my Raybans are missing!" grumbled Roger.

George roused himself, got dressed and the two spent a couple of hours just looking over the camp site for Roger's sunglasses, but to no avail.

While Roger continued to mutter about his Raybans, George grabbed an empty water jug and went to the oasis to fill it. As he pumped the water from the placid oasis into the plastic jug, George sat and looked around. The oasis was bathed in the mid-morning sunlight, the light and shadow making a pleasant tableaux of greens and browns, George took a few photos of the greenery and after he had put away his camera and capped the jug, he looked around a bit more and realized that one of the palm logs seemed to be missing now. A thrill passed over him as he hastily dug out his camera again and took more pictures of the oasis, something had moved when he wasn't looking!

He all but ran back to the campsite, Roger saw him coming and George cried breathlessly, "Turn on the computer! I think I saw something, I wanna compare some photos."

Roger ducked inside the tent and was opening the laptop as George came bustling in through the tent door. George frantically opened up his camera, took out the chip and plugged it into the card reader slot.

He muttered, "C'mon! C'mon!" until "view files" popped up. George scrolled down to the most recent images and stopped at the pictures he'd just taken. One by one, he peered intently at the photos looking for what he thought he'd seen. Finally, he threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed in frustration, "Damnit! Nothings there! I coulda sworn I saw something!"

Roger said quietly, "It doesn't mean that there wasn't something there, I saw more of those tracks while looking for my Raybans, one went right near where I'd hung my shirt last night."

"Oh?" "I'd left my Raybans in my shirt pocket. That, I'm sure of." replied Roger.

George remarked, "Last night, while I was doing my report, I thought I heard whispering outside the tent, but I figured it was the night breezes and my overactive imagination."

He looked thoughtful and said quietly, "If I had gone outside... What would I have seen?"

Roger shrugged and commented, "The realization of a dream perhaps?"

George grinned and replied, "Or the shock of my life!" Roger chuckled and declared, "This oasis isn't going to get explored by us sitting around and B.S'ing. I'm gonna go for a walk!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

George was making his way through the tangle of palm trees and dead growth. He had been following what appeared to be a trail of sorts when he noticed what may have been a shelter. Looking closer, he realized that it had been fashioned by bending and tying the palm fronds together. Rocks and a log had been set up to sit on by the long vanished occupants and at one time, it was fairly civilized. George was taking photos of the abandoned camp when he thought he heard a faint scream, he paused... there it was again! An inner voice suddenly shouted in his mind, "That's a kid in trouble!"

Without thinking, George bolted towards the screams now so very apparent to him. He tore frantically through the growth, heedless of the scratches left by the dried palm fronds, the childish voice was crying now and getting nearer as he ran. Hearing the yips of jackals mingling with the childish screams, George ran even faster towards the sobbing child. He leapt over some low growth and nearly landed on top of the jackals. Feverishly, he tore off his shirt and waved it around while shouting, "Get out of here!" The jackals lost their nerve and took off, leaving George and the sobbing child alone. He turned towards her and said hoarsely between gasps,

"Are you okay? Are you badly hurt?" The girl lay with her legs tucked up under her long dark skirt, her amber eyes were huge at the sight of him standing there, scratched, shirtless and gasping. Her own garments were torn from the jackals tearing at them, but other than a few scratches and a bad scare, she was unhurt.

George hastily put his shirt back on, smiled at her and said gently,

"I heard your screams and came running, thank God you're not hurt!"

The girl smiled at him shyly and George chuckled as he said ruefully,

"What was I thinking? Of course you wouldn't understand me, you probably don't speak English!"

The growth suddenly parted and a woman rushed into the area easily brushing him aside, she cried frantically.

"Natalie?!" The girl cried, "Mommy!" and she swept the girl up in her arms, squeezing her tightly and frantically kissing her on her tear streaked face.

George brushed himself off and stood there smiling idiotically until he saw the coils of a large python wrapping around the woman's waist and he realized they came from beneath the girl's long skirt!

Stunned, George stood stock still as the woman's own serpentine portion coiled around beneath her and she sat on her own coils to hold her daughter tenderly. His mouth suddenly went very dry, he wanted a drink, a strong drink, actually, several strong drinks more than anything else right now. His legs suddenly grew weak and he sat down awkwardly, gaping at what he was seeing.

Two lamias were right there in front of him, a mother and her daughter and they were very much alive!

He began weeping joyfully and futilely wiped away his tears, leaving streaks on his grimy face. He recovered enough of his composure to slip his camera out of his pocket and surreptitiously take a number of photos of the two before hiding it again.

The woman suddenly looked right at George, her slit pupilled amber eyes narrowing briefly and after a few bad moments on his part, she smiled at him, her eyes now radiating warmth as she said happily,

"Thank you! You saved my youngest daughter's life!"

George was thunderstruck, she'd just spoken very passable English!

"Wh...What?!" he stammered, "You speak English!? What? How? Where did you learn English?"

She smiled at him again, the warmth of her smile making his heart flutter and she said merrily, "From my husband, of course!"

Now the girl smiled at him too and she said in a girlish voice,

"Thank you for saving me, mister!"

The woman rose up on her coils and she sinuated away in utter silence, carrying her child. Leaving a very happy George Bryce, field agent for the Museum of Cryptozoology.

He laughed heartily for several moments and when his joy could not be contained anymore, he jumped to his feet and spontaneously danced a jig. He took numerous photos of the tracks and the marks where the mother lamia had coiled up to sit, he checked his camera to see how the pictures he'd taken looked, they weren't perfect, but he could plainly see the huge pythonic coils of the mother lamia as she sat with her child and the girl's own coils wrapped around her mother. George did a fist pump in the air and laughed to himself as he started back towards camp, his precious camera stashed in its carrying case now.

It was near dark when George emerged from the greenery around the oasis, he was covered with scratches and his clothing was torn in many places, he was utterly filthy and he was grinning from ear to ear.

Roger gaped at him and blurted out,

"Where the hell have you been and what happened to you? You left your satellite phone and I had no way to raise you! What if you'd gotten hurt? And what is with your face? You're grinning like an idiot!"

George just started laughing like a man possessed and he yelled exultantly,

"Rodge! You won't, fucking, believe, what I saw! I still can't believe it and I was there! There were two of them!"

"Two, of what?" cried Roger, trying to make himself heard over George's enthusiasm.

George suddenly stopped laughing and pulled his camera out of its case, holding it up he cried triumphantly.

"I saw two live lamias, Rodge! Two of 'em, a mother and a daughter, and I got pictures!"

Roger gaped at him and cried, "What?! Y'saw two of them? Lamias? Where? How?" George handed his camera to Roger and declared, "See for y'self, I'm taking a shower!"

After George had washed up, dressed his wounds and changed his clothing. He emerged from the tent to see Roger sitting at the camp table with an older man seated across from him. The man was clothed in the flowing garments of an Arab, but his blue eyes and sandy hair betrayed his European ancestry.

George stopped short and looked at Roger, Roger grinned at him and said, "He lives here and he wants to talk to you."

The man stood slowly to his full height of well over six feet tall, he looked at George for a long moment before speaking, then spoke in a baritone voice.

"I am Phillip Dexter and I want to thank you for saving my youngest daughter today. She told me how you scared off the jackals that were attacking her. My wife and I cannot express our gratitude properly, we lack the words."

He extended a hand and George shook it warmly. George smiled at him and said,

"Would you like some coffee and a bite to eat? We have much to talk about."

Phillip smiled again and said gratefully,

"I haven't had coffee in decades! And I'll take a meal and I'll try to answer some questions."

Roger grinned at him and said,

"You do realize, we've probably got a million of 'em, questions that is." as he poured a generous mug of coffee and broke out some MRE's for their guest, he said with a hint of an apology, "Military ration's, the best we can do I'm afraid!"

Phillip chuckled and said,

"And why should I care? I love my wife beyond compare and she takes very good care of us, but to open a can and eat something I haven't tasted in almost thirty years? I'm not about to whinge about the source!"

Roger laughed and declared,

"I like you already! George and I loathe the stuff, you're welcome to whatever we don't take back with us."

Phillip sipped at his coffee and remarked,

"It's a poor substitute for real coffee, but the caffeine is divine!" after he had finished his MRE's and his first cup of coffee, George refilled his mug and Phillip looked at both of them for a few moments, then he asked,

"How much has the world changed since I've been here?"

George sighed and replied,

"A helluva lot I'm afraid. In the west, society has become more tolerant of those that are not mainstream. The Soviet Union is gone and capitalism won the ideology war. The middle east is not so sunny, religious ideologies have become more rigid and intolerant, some long time dictatorships are gone but radicals have taken their places. Roger and I came in search of a legend, we had traced its source to an abandoned oasis and village. We came back here on a hunch and it paid off beyond our wildest expectations!"

Phillip smiled and remarked,

"I know the place you speak of, the village of In Azboua. It was there where I first met my wife, it was a small oasis even then and the village was nearly deserted. I was a young oil prospector for Shell oil and had never heard of lamias. You can only imagine my amazement when I saw her weeping at the recently dug graves of her parents."

His eyes took on a far away look at the memories and his weathered face softened.

"She was so beautiful and was so vulnerable then, and I fell hopelessly in love with her at that very moment! I didn't even notice her serpentine portion at first and by the time I did? Well, it was too late, we were already totally committed to each other."

He glanced over at the digital voice recorder and asked, "Is that thing like a tape recorder?" George nodded a 'yes' and Phillip chuckled, "What else have they miniaturized?" he asked.

Roger replied, "Practically everything! That, over there is a computer, we use it for record keeping and storing data. With the satellite dish up, we can send reports right to our department heads back at the museum."

Phillip admired the open notebook and grinned as he said, "I guess I'm a bit behind the times, eh?"

He shrugged and resumed his tale,

"We stuck around that oasis for as long as we could, Ayesha wanted to make sure her parents graves wouldn't be disturbed or found by anybody. Eventually, she became pregnant and we left to end up here. You've already seen our first home, I put that up in a hurry because she was about to have our first child. Later, after Mia was born we moved to a cave complex I'd found while exploring the extent of this oasis, I used the tools from the truck to smooth and level the cave's floor and to knock some of the stalagtites from the ceiling 'cos I kept knocking my head on them! I taught my girls to speak English and used some of the field note books to give them something to read and practice their writing in."

George chuckled and declared, "That explains how she spoke English! I don't know what amazed me more, them being lamias or their speaking English. I was pretty close to being floored by then!" Phillip chuckled and remarked, "My oldest girl Mia, saw you at the oasis when she was there gathering freshwater clams. Lamiae can hear really well and your vehicle is a bit noisy, she hid herself and watched you two until you left again."

Roger laughed and said cheerfully,

"See George, you weren't losing it after all, a lamia really was watching you! Though, I can't imagine why?"

George just ignored Roger's jibe and he asked Phillip.

"We would like to see and meet your family, in particular your wife. We'd like to talk to her and record any old legends or tales of her people, maybe get some recordings of her native language, if she remembers any of it."

Phillip looked thoughtful and replied,

"I will ask Ayesha if that would be all right with her, lamiae were hunted in ancient times and they have very long memories."

George thought for a few moments and said, "Hold that thought!" he got up and spent a few minutes rummaging through the truck, when he reappeared he had a cloth bag that he'd placed some things in. He handed the bag to Phillip and said,

"Give these to your wife and daughters. I think they'll like them."

The bag held a couple of tins of hard candies, some colored pencils and a pad of paper, a couple of hair brushes and a plastic hand mirror. Phillip hefted the bag and said,

"Thanks! I think these will go over quite well, particularly the candies!"

They shook hands with him and he said,

"I'll be back tomorrow and let you know what she thinks. Thank you again for the coffee and the nibblies, it almost makes me homesick!"

They watched as he disappeared into the darkness beyond their lantern's glow.

"So..." Asked Roger, "Was she as beautiful as the legends claim?"

George replied softly,

"What I saw was beauty all right, but not the seductress of legend. I saw a mother greatly relieved that her child was safe and unharmed. Yes, my heart skipped a beat when she smiled at me, the warmth in her smile was incredible!"

He sighed deeply and murmured,

"Woe to anyone who harms a lamia's child!"

Roger smiled and said quietly, "You've got it bad George, real bad."

Shortly after dawn, Phillip appeared with the child by his side. While he walked straight towards them, she swayed slightly from side to side, her serpentine lower half gliding smoothly over the gravelly surface. She almost appeared to be kneeling and sitting tall at the same time, her skirt ended just above where her ankles would be if she were a human girl. George could plainly see the broad belly scales going down and curving under her as she came closer, he waved his hand and called out.

"Good morning, Phillip, hello Natalie!"

He held up a coffee cup and asked, "Would you like some coffee? I have some orange flavored breakfast drink for you Natalie, if you'd like some?"

Natalie slipped behind her father a bit and peeked shyly around him, Phillip chuckled and replied. "Let her get used to you, I'm the only man she's ever seen. Of course I'll have coffee, and let Natalie have a small sip of juice and we'll see if she likes it."

Phillip sipped at his coffee and Natalie looked curiously at the orange colored liquid in her cup, her long, forked tongue dipped into it briefly and she smacked her lips for a moment. Her face broke out into a wide smile and she said enthusiastically, "This is good! It's different, I like it!"

While Phillip and Natalie were enjoying their drinks, George held up his camera and asked politely, "May I take some photos of you two?"

Phillip nodded a 'yes' and George started snapping away happily, he took many photos of Natalie with Phillip, by herself or capturing her clothing, her face and hands, her tail as it was coiled beneath her for her to sit on. Or as it moved sinuously while she explored their camp site.

Phillip was looking curiously at George's camera until he finally asked,

"What kind of camera and film are you using? I haven't seen you advance a frame yet."

George laughed and said apologetically,

"I'm sorry! I should've explained it to you last night, most cameras today are digital, the pictures go into a digital memory chip instead of onto film."

He shut off the camera and popped out the chip for them to see,

"This size chip will hold almost 4,000 photos depending on how big you want the images to be, I prefer the largest size image for more detail when making an enlargement."

Phillip whistled and he said to Natalie,

"When I lived in the outside world, these things didn't even exist outside of a laboratory."

George then took a few more photos of Phillip and Natalie together, smiling at the camera.

Roger called out suddenly, "I've got a satellite feed, take a look at this!"

Phillip and Natalie closed in on the computer screen and saw a video of a street scene coming from London, England as the reporter was describing the festivities for the the queens sixtieth year of rule celebration.

Phillip said softly,

"She's still the queen eh? I haven't been gone as long as I thought then!"

Natalie looked up at her father and asked,

"Daddy? Who is she? And why is she the queen? Isn't mommy the queen? You're always calling her the queen."

The two Americans chuckled as Phillip flushed slightly and replied artfully,

"Mommy, is the queen of our family and she rules my heart without question. Queen Elizabeth is the queen of the country my ancestors came from and she rules their homeland. Does that answer your question?"

The girl nodded an emphatic 'yes!' and happily finished her drink.

The two Americans followed Phillip and Natalie back to their hidden dwelling, this time they took a fairly direct route to save time. During their hike, George noted melon vines and squash plants carelessly strewn about, growing seemingly without any care, as if the seeds had been cast by nature instead of a guided hand.

Roger asked,

"Where did the seeds for these plants come from?"

Phillip smiled and said,

"After I brought Ayesha here and Mia was born. I went back to In Azboua one last time, I picked up every kind of vegetable seed I could find. I got some chickens and a couple of roosters. By the time I returned home, the truck was a regular Noah's ark! It was then that we stripped it and hid it away from view. This oasis has become a paradise, we're far enough from anywhere that we are quite safe here, we've deliberately avoided any sort of order in our planting just in case someone looks down while flying over." he patted his tummy and quipped, "We eat well!"

George commented wryly,

"Yesterday, I walked right through this area and never noticed the plants. In fact, it was right about here that I heard Natalie's screams."

He grinned at the girl and said cheerfully,

"I'm really glad I did now!"

Natalie smiled back at him and said happily, "Me too!" then she sped up, her tail wriggling rapidly from side to side as she dashed away crying excitedly, "Mommy! They're here! Come see!"

George and Roger both halted in their tracks as four other lamias emerged from hiding, Roger whistled softly and said quietly to George, "Would'ya look at that? They're beautiful!"

The oldest lamia sinuated forward, her lean waist and hips swaying as her tail sinuated along the ground, she had dark brown skin and her reptile portion had a geometric pattern for blending in. Her black hair was wrapped in a beautiful scarf and it cascaded down her slim backside. Her face was hauntingly beautiful, with a longish nose, a slightly narrow chin and triangular patches of finely patterned scales accentuating her high cheek bones. Her ears were a bit long and distinctly pointed, while her catlike eyes were a golden amber color and radiated warmth, particularly towards George, who had saved her child only the day before.

Her full lips curved into a smile that made both their hearts flutter and she said,

"Welcome to our home!"

She sinuated up to George and extended her hands to take his in her own, she held both of his hands and gazed at his face for a long moment before she said softly.

"You have no guile in your heart, there is no darkness there, yours is a pure heart!"

She leaned forward and gently kissed him on each cheek, then she straightened up again while George blushed crimson.

She squeezed his hands and said, "Thank you once again for saving my Natalie!"

Releasing his hands, she sinuated away from him and rejoined Phillip, leaving poor George to endure Roger's chuckling.

He clapped a hand on George's shoulder and said cheerfully, "George my boy, someday you'll get married and then you won't blush so easily!"

The other mature lamias reacted to Roger's comment by whispering to each other excitedly and Ayesha smiled at George as she asked,

"Would you like to meet our other children? I think they would like to meet such a brave man as you."

She gestured and the oldest of the girls sinuated forward. Unlike her mother, she had light brown skin and long, dark brown hair that was a torrent of rich, chestnut tresses cascading down to her swaying hips. Like her mother, she was also hauntingly beautiful, with her mother's longish nose, narrow chin, full lips, high cheekbones with a light sprinkling of tiny scales, pointed ears and amber, catlike eyes.

She smiled shyly at George and spoke softly, "Thank you for your bravery in saving my sister." Ayesha said pleasantly, "This is my eldest daughter, Mia."

Mia flushed and turned her face slightly away from George.

George blushed and smiled at her shyly too, then he said. "It is a great pleasure to meet you Mia, I look forward to learning more about you and all of you."

Ayesha gestured to the other girls and said,

"These are Katherine, my second oldest and Rosalind, my third oldest. Natalie you've already met." They smiled at him and said almost in unison.

"Thank you for rescuing Natalie!" Then broke into a fit of giggling.

Like Mia they too, were real beauties with the exotic features of their mother and the lighter skin and hair of their father.

Roger then spoke up, declaring, "We are from the Museum of Cryptozoology in the United States. Our mission is to seek out the world's legends and the truth behind them. George and I have traveled over much of the world collecting folk tales and stories of the elder days and if we can, the languages they were told in."

He glanced over at George who, taking his cue, spoke up himself,

"We came here seeking the truth behind the tales of the lamiae that once haunted the oases of the Sahara desert. "

He shrugged helplessly and said cheerfully,

"We did not expect to find out that lamiae really did exist, do exist and are so very much alive!"

Roger held up the various recording devices and announced, "With your consent, we would like to photograph you and your home. Record your voices and hear your own tales and legends and if possible, hear and record your native tongue."

Phillip glanced over at his wife Ayesha and after a moments thought she declared,

"My mother told me of our history, where we came from and how few of us are left. I've thought about this eventuality for a long time and I have decided that we will cooperate with you, to ensure our survival in this world."

Ayesha looked over at Roger, smiled and asked him,

"We already know that George is unmarried, now what about you?"

Roger chuckled and replied,

"Ma'am, I've been married twice now and both marriages ended in divorce. I gave up on the idea, it just doesn't work for me."

She smiled and said,

"Thank you for your honesty, you needn't worry about any of my daughters pursuing you then, a lamia prefers to give her virginity to the man who will give her his in return."

Both George and Mia flushed crimson, causing Roger to chuckle and reply to Ayesha,

"It's quite all right ma'am, I'm more of a leg man myself!"

They spent the next few hours taking videos, photos and voice recordings of the lamia family. Roger stayed at the home photographing and recording Ayesha and the middle sisters, while Mia and Natalie showed George around the oasis. Mia climbed a date palm and picked dozens of ripened dates for them to eat while Natalie selected a ripe melon to eat beneath the shade of a huge date palm beside one of the clear pools of water. Completely forgetting that his lovely companions were beings out of legend, George laughed and talked and showed both of them the photos he had taken of the lamias and their home. While skipping back through photo files, George overshot the beginning of the lamia expedition and a photo of him wearing heavy outer garments and standing in a whitened world appeared on the view screen.

George muttered hastily, "Oops! Went too far."

Mia and Natalie both cried at once, "Wait! We want to see!" and so, George was obliged to show them some pictures from his Himalayan expedition.

Natalie impetuously asked,

"What is that white stuff all around you, and why are you so covered up?"

George smiled at his young friend and said,

"That is snow, it's something that happens in colder, wetter climates and is sort of like a frozen rain that falls from the sky. I was very cold there in the Himalayas and wore all that clothing to keep from freezing to death." "What is frozen?" "Frozen is like those ice cubes that I put in the juice drink I gave you back at camp." Replied George to Natalie's question.

He slowly realized that Mia was now resting her head on his shoulder while he talked, he smiled to himself and decided that he liked the feeling. The warm, drowsy afternoon worked its magic on them and they all fell asleep together in the shade of the huge date palm.

George woke up abruptly and realized that it was now dark and that he and the two lamia sisters had fallen asleep beneath a huge date palm and now it was late. He pulled out his satellite phone and saw that it was after 8:00 P.M. He gently shook Mia's shoulder, she stirred and sat up, in the dim light he could plainly see her amber eyes blinking in surprise as she looked around, she cried, "Oh my?! We fell asleep!"

George shook Natalie awake too, while the younger girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes. George punched in Roger's phone number and heard it ringing, the girls watched in wonder as they heard Roger's voice answering.

"George?! Where are you three? What's happened to you guys?"

George replied lamely,

"I was showing the girls some photos from the Himalayas and we sorta fell asleep."

"Whaaat?!" was Roger's incredulous response, "Whaddaya mean you sorta fell asleep? Are they awake? Their mom wants to talk to Mia!"

Looking uncertain, George handed his phone to Mia and said,

"Your mom wants to talk to you!" Mia took the phone as if it would bite her and she held it to her ear like she'd seen George do. "Hello?! Mom?"

"Are you alright?" came Ayesha's voice.

"Y,Yes mom, we're fine."

"Did he touch you?" She asked sternly.

"N, No mom, he didn't touch me!" Mia replied a bit testily. "He was showing us pictures from the Himalayas, and the next thing I knew, we were waking up just now."

Ayesha's voice laughed and she said merrily,

"I knew he was a good man! You slept together and he didn't try to take advantage of you? That's a good omen!"

Roger came back on the phone and declared firmly,

"We're staying here tonight! I've got hours and hours of Ayesha speaking in lamian and telling the tales of her people. You oughtta see these women dance, belly dancers have nothing on these ladies! I feel so privileged right now, the videos I've taken really don't do them justice!"

George chuckled and replied,

"That's fine by me, it's a little dark out for stumbling around in an oasis, I'll be there shortly!"

George looked at his two lovely escorts and said amiably.

"Nice night for a moonlit stroll, shall we?"

The girls laughed and Natalie took the lead while Mia sinuated alongside George and they enjoyed each other's company immensely. All too soon, they arrived back at the carefully hidden home of the family and George felt a pang of regret that his soiree with Mia was at an end, so soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning, George and Roger took their leave of the family and hiked back to their camp to write up and file their reports. George was feverishly typing away and compressing his image files when he heard Roger cooly remark, "You have a visitor, make yourself socially acceptable." George looked out the tent door flap and saw Mia sinuating across the sand towards their tent, his heart jumped in his chest.

In the daylight, she was even more beautiful than he remembered, her chestnut hair tied back in a ponytail seemed to bring out her distinctly pointed ears and high cheekbones with the light sprinkling of fine scales on her cheeks. Her full lips curving in a smile to melt the heart and her amber eyes were hidden behind mirror lensed..."My Raybans?!... You took them?" cried Roger which shattered George's reverie about Mia's appearance.

George yelped, "What th?!" While Roger strode up to a confused looking Mia and pointedly asked her, "Where, did you get these?" as he pointed at the sunglasses perched on her lovely nose. Mia hastily took them off and looked at them in puzzlement.

"My sister gave them to me, she said she found them around here. Is something the matter?"

Roger sighed and remarked morosely,

"Those sunglasses have been all over the world perched on my nose, your sister took something I cherish. My dad gave them to me for flying, I don't think she meant any harm and I'm not mad or anything. But, I do want them back!"

Mia blushed and averted her eyes as she handed them to Roger with an apology,

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she didn't ask for them. I can't keep them knowing that you missed them." Roger took the Raybans and gratefully put them on,

"Much better! I gots my shades back!" he said with a grin. He paused a moment and said brightly, "Wait right here, missy!"

He ducked into the tent and picked up his spare sunglasses in their case, ducking back out. Roger handed the case to Mia and declared,

"Here! I am giving these to you, personally!"

Mia broke out into a radiant smile that made poor George's heart flutter and she thanked Roger profusely.

Roger grinned at her and said,

"It's my pleasure, now if you'll excuse me, I've got some things to do on the truck, so I'll leave you two alone."

Then he found something to do on the truck, even though it was George's baby and required no maintenance, period.

George came out of the tent with a drink in each hand, floating in the drinks was something Mia had never seen, ice cubes. She sinuated up to him and on impulse, she hugged him briefly. George instantly regretted having his hands full at that moment and therefore unable to reciprocate the hug. Mia blushed and drew back slightly while George hastily set the drinks down before turning back to her and this time, they hugged each other warmly. George was keenly aware of her womanly shape as he hugged her and just how good she felt in his arms, a long moment later they separated, albeit a bit reluctantly. When he could speak intelligently again, George asked as casually as he could manage,

"So, what brings you here of all places?"

He immediately kicked himself mentally for saying something so lamely obvious. Mia smiled shyly and replied,

"I wanted to see you again and your camp, of course."

George couldn't help grinning as he asked,

"Would you like to come inside and get out of the sun?" Mia smiled again and nodded ever so slightly a "yes"

He held the tent flap open and Mia sinuated inside, once inside she coiled up her serpent portion and sat on her coils while George quickly retrieved the forgotten drinks and handed her one. The coldness of the liquid and its flavor surprised her, Mia's face lit up and she asked gaily,

"So this is what cold tastes like?"

George laughed easily and replied cheerfully,

"No dear, that's orange flavor, the cold part is the temperature!"

Mia grinned at him and drank some more, "I like it!" she declared.

"How did you make it cold out here in the desert?" she asked.

George grinned at her and showed her the solar powered camp refrigerator. "We brought this to keep things cold and for making ice. It's the latest thing in solar powered appliances. The company that makes it donated it to our expedition in exchange for a field test report on it."

Finishing her drink, Mia popped one of the cubes into her mouth and grinned as the icy cube melted in her mouth until she crunched it between her teeth.

"What were you doing when I arrived?" asked Mia, George suddenly realized at that very moment that he would never, ever be able to lie to Mia, so he answered truthfully.

"I was writing my latest report on finding you and your family. When it's finished, I will send it to my bosses at the museum and they will decide what we do next."

He looked at Mia steadily and added earnestly,

"I hope that it isn't to leave you here and send you back out of my life, so soon after I've met you. They wouldn't be so cruel!"

Mia smiled shyly at him and said softly, "I too, will never forget you, George Bryce."

She blushed shyly and looked around the tent's interior, glancing at the computers and the satellite antennae, she gazed at the screen on the computer and said softly,

"You have so many things of wonder to me, things that enable you to communicate across the world and make ice in the Sahara desert."

She smiled in that way that made his heart flutter and said fervently,

"I want to see the outside world George. I want to feel cold and taste new tastes, I want to hear music, read new books and see a movie!"

George stood up and reached out to Mia, she rose up and reached out too and they embraced warmly, their hearts a'fluttering. George turned his face towards her and just as they were about to kiss, Mia said very softly.

"I will kiss only one man in my lifetime and that man will be my husband for life."

George reached up and took her face in his hands, his eyes searched her face and he said thickly,

"I want to remember this, this moment, this face, the look on your face when I gave you my heart and soul. I love you Mia and I will never, ever, willingly leave you!"

Mia's amber eyes welled with tears as she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers. Their first kiss was soaked with tears of joy, Mia wept freely while they shared their first kisses. Reluctantly, their lips parted and they held each other very closely, tears of joy trickling from their eyes. George was very aware of Mia's warmth and sensuality now, as much as she was aware of his own arousal.

Mia smiled at him shyly and said softly,

"We will have to consummate our relationship soon, but not here. I want to give myself to you beneath the palm trees I grew up under."

Mia led him to a spot of her choosing and George spread a blanket on the smooth sand beneath the date palms. They looked at each other for a long moment and began undressing. George's state of arousal increased as each bit of Mia's clothing came off, along with his own. He gulped as he gazed at her breasts, their firmness and perfection entranced him as did her slim, taut waist and swelling hips.

For some odd reason, the researcher in him still had the presence of mind to note that her hips were a bit wider than a human female's and that the serpent portion began with smooth, fine scales at her hips and the scales became larger and took on a geometric pattern towards her long, powerful tail.

They lay down together and Mia slowly wrapped herself around him as they kissed tenderly and he caressed her gently, his hands trembling all the while. Their lips parted briefly as Mia guided him inside of her and with her long tail looping around him, their hips ground together slowly as they became one in mind, body and soul.

She moaned softly and murmured in his ear,

"I am yours now and you are mine, now and forever."

She opened her mouth and her long, forked tongue flickered out and licked his neck as if she was tasting him. Then long, needle like, fangs emerged from her gums with glistening droplets forming at their tips.

George's eyes opened wide and he gasped in surprise as she sank her fangs deep into his throat with her full lips sealing the bite. He felt a warmth spreading from Mia's fangs throughout his body, it spread all the way down to his fingers and toes and back up to the top of his head.

When her warmth had permeated his body completely, she withdrew her fangs and lips, licked the bite marks and whispered in his ear.

"I have given unto you my vitality and soon, you will give me yours, then we will be as one and inseparable, my love." Mia's powerful tail snuggled around George and squeezed him gently as they made love and climaxed together, again and again and again.

It was well after dark when they finally dressed and gathered up the blanket. Mia said softly, "I must tell my parents that we are one now."

George nodded and said, "We gotta face the music some time, let's do it!"

He started walking towards the lamia's home, Mia laughed and said gaily, "Here, let me!" and she scooped him up, cradling him in her shapely arms and started sinuating rapidly towards her parent's home.

Mia covered ground pretty rapidly and before long, George said, "Babe? If you get tired, I'll gladly walk!"

Mia kissed him sweetly and said,

"I am quite a bit stronger than you dear, and I will be the one carrying you across the threshold, not the other way around!"

Shortly after that, they arrived at the home of her parents and Ayesha greeted the young couple.

Mia set George down and Ayesha sinuated right up to him, she looked at the fresh bite marks on his neck then she looked at Mia, Mia smiled shyly and held up one hand with four fingers extended. Ayesha looked again at George and even in the evening's soft light, his blush was apparent to her. She smiled and said to him gently,

"Even after receiving the lamia's wedding bite, you still blush? You are, a true innocent!"

Natalie had slipped away and fetched her dad. As Phillip walked up to them, Mia coiled her tail around George protectively, the same as her mother would do for Phillip.

Phillip grinned broadly and said cheerfully to Mia,

"Now is that any way for a newly wedded girl to greet her old dad? I just want to welcome your husband into the family!"

Ayesha chuckled and said,

"I was the same way too, remember? It's something we lamiae do, protect our mates. She'll calm down in a little while." Mia blushed and relaxed her tail, but took George's offered hand instead. The two middle sisters, upon hearing the news from Natalie, came out of the cave and gathered around Mia.

Phillip took George's arm and said, "C'mon son, let the ladies talk a bit." the two men walked a little ways off and stopped to watch the lamias gathering together.

Phillip sighed and said,

"You caught a wonderful girl y'know, Mia was always my little buddy, she asked a million questions and wanted to know more, her mind just soaked up everything I could teach her."

George said quietly to Phillip,

"Mia wants to see the outside world, she came to our camp and saw and tasted things she didn't know existed."

He sighed and continued, "I was already more than halfway to being in love with her, and with her coming to our camp and being so inquisitive? Well, Cupid shot me full of little arrows and I was done for."

Phillip chuckled and said, "I thought I saw a couple already stuck in your back when you first came here!"

George grinned at him and replied cheerfully, "Those were just ranging shots, once he had me bracketed? I was toast!"

The lamias had formed a circle around Mia and joined hands as they swayed from side to side, and sang songs of joy mixed with sorrow.

Phillip murmured, "They're congratulating Mia and saying farewell as well."

He looked over at George and said,

"She is no longer completely their sister and her daughter, she belongs to you now and you belong to her. That bite she gave you? She injected you with a serum from her body, you now carry the scent of a lamia and you will live to be well past a century in age. I was twenty five when Ayesha bit me and that was almost thirty years ago, I've hardly aged since."

George smiled at Phillip and remarked,

"You answered that question without my asking it, the bite did hurt a bit and I definitely felt the effects spreading. So, I'm a marked man now?"

Phillip chuckled and quipped,

"Your days of wine, women and song are over, son! Welcome to the sweetest of captivities to be in."

The lamian circlet had broken up and they were all hugging each other and crying freely. Then Ayesha took Mia's hand and brought her over to George where she took his right hand and placed it over Mia's left hand. She spread her arms wide and both them were enveloped in her hug, she then moved back and joined her husband Phillip, while dabbing at her eyes.

The trip back to camp was made in near total darkness after the moon had set, George had stumbled several times in the dark until Mia stopped and said in her best 'woman in charge' voice,

"I'm going to carry you, you keep stumbling over things I can see easily. We'll make better time by me carrying you!"

Not having a valid rebuttal, George smiled as she scooped him up and resumed their journey, he wrapped his arms around her neck as best he could and snuggled against her wonderful bosom.

Roger looked out of the tent with a powerful flashlight in hand as they approached, he noted the way they looked at each other and asked playfully, "Can I take it that I'm sleeping in the truck tonight?"

George smiled and said bashfully, "I'm afraid so guy, my domestic lifestyle has just had a dramatic upgrade!"

Roger gaped and said, "Y'didn't?!" at George's red faced nod he broke out into a grin and declared, "Well, I'll be damned! You did!"

Roger whooped and reached out suddenly to hug George when Mia quickly coiled her tail around him and glared. Seeing this, Roger stepped back and said gently,

"Whoah! I meant no harm girl, I was just happy for him that's all."

Mia averted her face and blurted out,

"I'm sorry! Mom says all lamiae are like this right after mating for the first time. My instincts are in turmoil right now, but I'll be alright by the morning."

George squeezed Mia's shoulders and stepped out of her coiled tail, he reached out to Roger and the two adventurers embraced fondly.

Roger happily slapped George's back and he cried,

"Just like you to marry the prettiest girl in the world, you lucky bastard!"

They separated and Roger took Mia's right hand, he held her hand gently and raised it as he bent over and brushed the back of her hand with his lips and after he straightened, he said with a wink and a grin,

"Congratulations Mia! He really doesn't deserve you, but I'll let it go this time!"

The trio entered the now crowded tent, George and Roger took their seats while Mia coiled up her tail and had a seat on her own coils. Roger chuckled and remarked,

"You'll never have to worry about where you're gonna sit with that little trick."

Roger looked at the two of them and declared soberly,

"We will have to report this y'know. The department has already asked for more information, our finding your family has really energized the department. You two getting married?! Boy, I wish I could see their faces when they read this report!"

Mia looked concerned and she asked,

"Would they try to separate us? Especially when I might already be pregnant!"

Roger whistled and laughed,

"You two didn't waste any time, did you? Nah! I don't think they would do that, they might ask you a million and a half embarrassing personal questions, but separate you? Out of the question Mia, I'd kick their asses my own damn self!"

Mia smiled at him and said,

"You look out for George, don't you? I get that feeling from you."

Roger grinned at her and replied,

"Georgie boy is kinda like the younger brother I never had. Yeah, I do look out for him and... Don't you breathe a word of this to anyone, y'hear! He looks out for me too."

He looked around as if checking for eavesdroppers and with his best piratical grin he said,

"We'll just keep this to ourselves, eh!?"

Mia and Roger continued talking while George wrote out his report and described the scene of the lamiae circling Mia and singing their ancient songs of joy and sadness at her departure. He reported that he and Mia were now husband and wife according to the most ancient lamian customs of marriage, he described her mating bite and its effects on he left out the part about it extending a man's lifetime possibly by decades, nor did he mention it to Roger.

George Bryce concluded his report by declaring his intention of bringing Mia home with him, even if he had to smuggle her into the United States. He read it over one last time and with no small amount of trepidation, he hit "send."

Early the next morning, George woke to the sensation of smooth coils of flesh enveloping him and warm arms holding him close. He remembered that he, George Bryce, was now the husband of a beautiful lamia named Mia and that they were sleeping together on the tent's floor while poor Roger was snoozing in the back of the truck. Disentangling himself from his bride, George rose, washed up and dressed. He cobbled together a breakfast of sorts for the three of them and was making coffee when a sleepy eyed Mia emerged from their tent and Roger sat up blinking. Mia looked askance at the mug of coffee George had given her, he laughed and said, "S'coffee, most of humanity depends on it to live. If Roger and I didn't have coffee in the morning, we'd be pretty much useless!"

Mia made a slight face at its flavor and Roger remarked,

"Don't worry honey, you'll get used to it, kinda like hitting your head on the same thing each day, after a while, you get to liking it."

She looked at him like he was crazy and asked,

"If you keep hitting your head, wouldn't it occur to you to either move what your hitting or go somewhere else?"

Roger laughed and said to George,

"Do not, I repeat, do not argue with this girl, you will lose!"

George just shrugged and commented,

"Maybe if you had picked a better analogy than one of continuing to bang your head against something just because you've gotten used to it, rather than simply moving it. Sorry guy, I'm on her side!"

Roger turned on the laptop and opened it up to find a single message:

"Congratulations from all of us here! We are arranging for Mia's entry visa as a refugee from religious persecution. Can make arrangements for rest of family to come to U.S. Let us know."

Mia looked a little confused as the two whooped and hollered and clapped each other on their backs. Finally, she cried out, "What is going on?"

George turned and kissed her soundly, then he cried excitedly,

"They want me to bring you home. Look!"

He showed her the message and slipped his arms around her.

Mia's amber eyes teared up and she cried happily,

"This is wonderful news indeed! When do we leave?"

Roger grinned at her and said, "Now!"

"Now!?" Mia cried. "Yes, now!" Replied Roger.

The two men rapidly broke down their camp and stowed things as tightly as they could, Mia helped where she could, but much of it was unfamiliar to her and George finally said patiently.

"Honey, I appreciate your efforts at helping, but you're a little in the way. Have a seat and we'll finish up real soon."

When they were done, they piled in and Roger started up the Unimog then checked it over as it warmed up. Before long, he engaged the transmission and steered the Unimog towards the oasis. Mia cried, "What are you doing?"

Roger grinned at her and replied,

"Two things, one, we're gonna take you to say goodbye to your folks and tell them that they have an invitation to come to America with us. If they don't want to leave? Well, two, we'll give them all of our extra stuff and gear, I'm sure your dad will appreciate it."

Mia sat in the back wide eyed and hanging on for dear life, as Roger artfully threaded the ungainly looking Unimog between the palm trees and around the fruit and vegetable patches strewn about. The Unimog lurched fearfully as Roger eased it over some stray boulders here and over a fallen palm tree there.

Roger finally stopped it when they had arrived back at the caves. Mia slid out first and she let out a loud hissing, whistling sound. A few moments later, Natalie peeked shyly around a thicket of squash vines and Ayesha emerged from the cave itself, beside her was Phillip with a revolver strapped around his waist. Katherine and Rosalind emerged from behind a fallen palm log. Their eyes were very wide at the sight of the brutish Unimog with Mia coiled up alongside it.

Phillip cried, "What is the meaning of this?"

George stepped down from the Unimog and declared, "We are taking Mia to my home! They are making arrangements for us to bring her into the U.S. And I have been directed to inform you all, that similar arrangements can be made for you as well."

Phillip and Ayesha looked at each other for a long moment and Phillip looked at his other daughters. Ayesha sinuated forward and said,

"We are not yet ready to leave our homeland. Mia is your wife now and you have a family on the way, we wouldn't dream of keeping her here, not when she is now married to a man of the wide world."

Roger set his jaw and replied grimly,

"Okay, that is your decision to make and even though I greatly disagree with it, I will respect it. However, we have orders to get back as quickly as safety will allow, so to save weight and make room for our precious cargo. We are giving you everything we can absolutely live without, we are only keeping enough food and water for three days. We will be taking Mia's personal things and any clothing that she decides to keep."

They quickly unloaded virtually everything and carried it into the deeper part of the caves, keeping only the essentials. Mia's favorite things and clothing were carefully placed in the Unimog and secured, that which she hadn't given to her sisters.

Ayesha stared at the solar powered refrigerator and gaped in amazement when Mia playfully placed an ice cube in her hand, she marveled at the small stove and the crates of dried fruit and MRE's. Roger took Phillip to one side and handed him the AK 47 and all of the ammunition he had.

He took Phillip's hand and shook it firmly as he told him solemnly, "When you are ready, let us know and we will come get you A.S.A.P. There are people out there who will kill you and your family without compunction. Please stay in touch, the satellite phone and computer are both solar powered and are preset for our department, tell 'em Roger sent you!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mia cried and cried as they left the oasis and her family behind, she clung tightly to George, dabbed at her eyes and sniffled. Roger took out his satellite phone and punched in a string of numbers, after a few moments he said hastily,

"Henri! Roger here..." he cursed suddenly and yelled into the phone, "I don't have the fucking time or patience to play your little "civilized languages" game right now... This is important!"

He listened for a moment and said tersely, "Henri, we are coming back and we are bringing home George's new wife..." Roger paused while Henri was evidently exclaiming, Roger chuckled and said, "Oh she's a beauty all right, she is a real legend!"

Roger flinched and held the phone away from his ear for a moment and a torrent of French could be heard streaming from the handset.

Finally he said, "Yes she is, we needed to get her out of Algeria yesterday. No, but the museum is pulling a bunch of strings. Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow evening, be discreet about it, okay? Yeah! Thanks a bunch! Oh and Henri? Sorry about the rough language earlier, we're under some stress here."

For the rest of the day and all through the night they drove and drove, stopping only to switch drivers, top up the fuel, take toilet breaks or to stretch out cramped limbs or a tail. Even though the route was largely deserted, they still pulled well off the path for a potty stop or a stretch break. If they saw an oncoming vehicle, Mia slipped under the sleeping bags that they'd spread out for her and lay still. By late afternoon the next day, the two of them were living on pure adrenalin and energy bars.

Roger grinned at George through bleary eyes and said,

"Boy do you look like shit! When's the last time you got any sleep?"

George retorted wearily,

"Like you got any room to talk, what's this sleep thing you speak of?"

Roger just laughed through gritty lips and looked back at Mia, she looked just as wired as they did and she managed a weak smile then said sarcastically,

"Iwanted to see the world I said, what was that you said about making a wish? I might get what I ask for?"

George hollered apologetically over the noise of the Unimog,

"Sorry babe, we'll laugh about this someday!" Mia just smiled and covered her head back up with a blanket to keep her hair from getting any more tangled up than it already was.

The little village of Tin Zaouatene appeared at dusk and they approached it cautiously, only a few of the American paleontologist's vehicles were there and Roger stopped the Unimog and watched the buildings, he glanced at his watch and muttered, "Henri is running a little late."

Mia said quietly, "I hear something coming in the air." and she pointed to the north.

The satellite phone's sudden chiming made both George and Roger jump and they knocked their heads together reaching for it, but Roger's arm was longer and he answered it while rubbing at the point where his head had banged into George's,

"Yes?! Henri, you beautiful man, you're a saint! Yes, we're here but everything seems awfully quiet. Yes, we'll move closer to the road and hide amongst the dunes. I'll have my flashlight to signal you, yeah, the bright one!"

George and Mia exited the Unimog with her things while Roger moved it closer to the buildings and parked it there. Mia raised herself up and tucked her tail in close, she draped the sleeping bag over herself and in the dusk, she looked just like any other shapeless woman carrying a large bundle. George walked alongside her carrying his own bundle as if he did this sort of thing all of the time, going for an evening stroll. They made it to the dunes without incident and Roger carrying another bundle, soon joined them.

They all could hear the Antonov now and Roger aimed a powerful flashlight at the dark shape descending, he flicked the beam on and off rapidly and then waited. In reply, brilliant landing lights suddenly came on and soon, the Antonov was touching down and coming to a brief halt. A door opened on the largest building and people came out with flashlights playing about the dunes,their brilliant beams probing the darkness.

A side door on the Antonov opened and Roger bolted for it, he bounded up the steps and beckoned to them frantically. George grabbed Mia's hand and they dashed towards the steps and safety, they heaved her things inside and Mia went in first then George leapt in after her, he and Roger slammed the door shut, secured it and Roger bellowed.

"We're all here, go!" He dashed into the cockpit and joined Henri at the controls while George and Mia hastily found seating as the Antonov surged forward, its twin props chewing into the night air while flashlight beams played over its gleaming flanks. Moments later, they were rising above the desert and the tiny village with its startled occupants then banking to head north again. The Antonov climbed to cruising altitude and Roger took over the controls while Henri came back to see Mia.

He stood there for a long moment gazing at her, his eyes welling with emotions. He dabbed at his eyes and said softly,

"You, are, real! It gladdens my heart to know that legends still live in this world. That legend is not dead and lost to the coldness of science and progress."

Mia smiled at him and said, "Thank you for all your help."

Henri placed his hands over his heart and bowed slightly to her, "Your smile is thanks enough!" he replied with his own smile.

Henri glanced around and said,

"Ah! There it is, these are some burkahs. Some of the women around here wear them and they'll cover up pretty much anything!"

With that, he picked up a bundle of clothes, handed it to George and returned to his pilot's seat. The two rummaged through the bundle and found a burkah that must've belonged to a large woman.

Mia slipped it over her head and after a brief moment, she tore the veil off and cried, "How can anyone see out of this thing? I can't see anything alongside me and I can barely see in front of me!" George grinned at her and said, "You'll only have to wear it until we're out of the Middle east, then you're free to burn it and I'll provide the matches!"

Mia laughed and patted her hand on the bench beside her, he quickly joined his bride and as they snuggled, Mia's tail reached up and the slender tip flipped off the lights in the cargo compartment. George kissed her tenderly and murmured regretfully,

"We're not going to have time for love, can it wait?"

Mia smiled at him and murmured,"Of course silly, I just want to be held."

They snuggled together and as the adrenalin wore off, sleep overtook them.

The clattering of the side cargo doors being opened, woke the two. George sat up, blinking in the sudden glare and moments later, Mia's tousled head rose as well. Roger stood beside their bench and said cheerfully, "Wakey, wakey you love birds, we're here and our next ride is waiting."

A gurney had been brought up the cargo ramp and sat beside the bench, Roger pointed at it and said, "Mia, your legs were crushed in an accident and you're in shock." He paused a moment then asked, "Can you fake it?" Mia nodded and said hopefully, "I think so." She slipped off of the bench and onto the gurney, she tucked her tail in as tight as she could, while George spread the blankets over her and tucked extra cloth around her tail. Roger pulled out a couple of dummy feet and they arranged them in the cloth wrappings, then Roger got out a sprayer and squirted a liquid that turned red here and there.

Mia grimaced as George slipped the loathesome burkah over her head and she lay still. Moments later, the gurney was rolled down the ramp and across the tarmac to a waiting Gulfstream G 150 business jet where she was hoisted up and slid inside.

Mia lay there quietly, not daring to make a sound, a few minutes later she heard George's voice say soothingly, "A few minutes more babe, and we'll be out of here." Mia felt the jet moving forward and turning around then pausing, she heard the jet engines spooling up as they increased their power and then a surging acceleration, a rush that threatened to slide her off the gurney. She clung to the sides of the gurney's frame, hanging on, grimly determined to not slide off. The flooring tilted and a few moments later, the landing gear bumped noisily as it was tucked into the aircraft's sleek underbelly. The jet climbed and climbed and after an eternity, leveled out at cruising altitude. This was nothing like the roughness of the Antonov, this was luxury.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

George spoke softly, "Babe? I'm gonna start unwrapping you now, we're in the clear so don't worry okay?" Mia felt the hateful burkah being taken off of her and she blinked at the sudden brightness as her eyes adjusted. Sitting up, she began pulling at the cloth wrapped around her tail and when it was off, she stretched out her powerful tail and playfully wrapped it around her husband, then pulled him towards her for a kiss.

A woman's voice said, "Oh my?! You are, real!" and Mia looked over to see a prim looking blonde haired woman sitting there, she looked quizzically at George and he said, "Mia? I want you to meet Rachel Thompson, she is my boss, Mrs. Thompson made all of the arrangements to bring you out of Algeria."

Rachel smiled at her and said, "How do you do, Mrs. Bryce. It is a great pleasure to meet you at last!"

Mia asked, "Mrs. Thompson? That means you're married, right?" Rachel smiled and said, "Ten years now and two children, a boy and a girl."

Mia visibly relaxed and said, "So I'm Mrs Bryce now, right?" Rachel nodded a yes. Mia looked puzzled and asked, "Did they send you, a married woman, to work with me rather than a single woman, for fear I might have a jealousy problem?"

George looked a bit sheepish and said quietly,

"I suggested it dearest, I saw how protective you are of me and I was concerned that any single woman, attractive or not, might be a problem for you."

Mia stared at him for a long moment and then began chuckling. After a few moments of mirth at George's expense, Mia smiled at her husband and asked him,

"Don't you remember that bite I gave you when we consummated our marriage?"

George scratched at the healing bite marks on his neck a bit and nodded, Mia snuggled close and touched his nose with her left middle finger playfully, as she said,

"That bite marked you as being a lamia's mate. Oh, the marks will disappear soon, but now your scent is mixed with mine. Any other lamia will know at once that you are mine, and another human woman will not be attracted to you sexually, nor will you be attracted to her."

Rachel laughed and said,

"Mia, if we could find a way to synthesize that? You could be making a fortune!"

George slipped out of Mia's arms and fetched some cold drinks and nibblies from the Gulfstream's refigerator and handed them to the ladies, Mia delighted in the new tastes.

Having finished her drink, Mia looked over at a mirror mounted on the cabin door and gasped, then she turned to George and said accusingly,

"Why didn't you tell me I looked like a scirocco had attacked me? My hair looks awful!"

George could only blush and reply sheepishly, "In all the excitement, I was more concerned with getting you out of Algeria than I was with how you looked while running for your life."

Rachel quickly dug around in her nearby bag and pulled out a sturdy hairbrush, handing it to Mia she said,

"Here, this'll help get all that hair of yours under control for now. George does have a point, getting you away from harm was our top priority."

Mia smiled at Rachel and replied,

"I know and you're right, but I do want to look my best even if it seems a bit silly." She began working away with the brush to get her luxurious tresses under a semblance of control.

George asked Rachel, "What exactly, are these arrangements you've made?"

Rachel opened up her laptop and pulled up a folder with some images inside, turning it around to face them she said.

"we're going to land in Madrid and take on more fuel, then we'll fly to Miami and fuel up again for the final hop to Phoenix, Arizona."

"Why Phoenix, what's in Phoenix?" asked George.

Rachel grinned at him and said, "The museum has acquired a ranch near there. This 10,000 acre ranch has been virtually untouched for sixty years and is nearly surrounded by government owned nature preserves. In short, you and Mia will live there and be caretakers of the ranch in complete privacy. Eventually, we hope to bring the rest of your family there and any other lamiae we may find, as well."

George and Mia looked at the photos of the ranch house and out buildings and of the property itself. George looked up at Rachel and asked.

"It sounds like a dream come true. So, what's the catch?"

Rachel leaned back in her seat and said hesitantly,

"The catch is, we want to do a full medical examination on Mia."

George bristled and was about to react, when Rachel held up her hands and cried. "Wait! Hear me out, please!"

He crossed his arms and waited, Rachel continued.

"We won't take any biosamples if you don't want us to, nor will we use X-Rays. We will use strictly ultrasound and C-T scans at high resolution and that is all."

George glanced at Mia and explained to her.

"Our Doctors can look inside of you without having to cut you open and it doesn't hurt, ever. Biosamples are a little bit of your blood and a swab taken from inside of your mouth, they'll want a stool sample too. If you don't object? I won't object, it's up to you."

Mia looked at George first then at Rachel, then she asked.

"To what purpose, will this examination serve?"

Rachel sighed and replied patiently,

"Mia, you are the only lamia known to us. Yes, we know about your family, but until we can extract them. They may as well not exist. Our examination will allow us to compare your anatomy to other creatures and learn what your place is, in the animal kingdom. No fossils of lamiae have ever been found and so, you are completely unique!"

"How long will this take? This examination."

Rachel looked thoughtful and replied.

"About two hours, tops. We can do it on the way to the ranch at the University of Phoenix medical center."

Mia shrugged and said,

"Alright, you can examine me, so long as I'm not out of George's sight!"

Rachel grinned and said cheerfully, "Fair enough!"

George asked, "Just what will I do at this ranch? I don't know the first thing about ranching."

Rachel chuckled and replied,

"You'll still be working for us George, we can't afford to let you out of our sight, you have a way of finding things. You'll be mostly stateside now, so you'll be home most every night."

George grinned and said,

"Okay, that sounds better. Now, what about Mia's family? How are you going to watch them?"

"Roger Tate is still working the Sahara desert region and since he knows your in-laws, he'll be checking in on them once in a while." replied Rachel, "Now that we have found one lamia family? There just might be more of your people hidden away out there, Mia."

Mia smiled and said happily,

"That would be wonderful! We grew up wondering if we were the only lamias left. Mom thought there might be a few families in Libya or Egypt. She said to me once, that her grandmother had told her of these families when she was little."

George remarked,

"We can send an inquiry to your dad y'know, he has that satellite phone and computer that Roger and I gave him. Or better yet, have him teach one of your sisters how to use it, that way they'll get some exposure to modern technology."

Rachel frowned slightly and weighed in with,

"We need to caution them about excessive use of that phone, it does have a radio and GPS signature that can be traced and that could be a disaster if some jihadist insurgents found them."

George frowned and said grimly,

"Their lives wouldn't be worth two cents if they're found... Damnit! We could've brought them too, we were right there. We should've just tied 'em up and heaved 'em into the truck!"

Mia chuckled and when George looked curiously at her, she said merrily,

"Darling, the only one's, you and Roger could 'tie up' would have been my dad and Natalie. Adult lamias are quite a bit stronger than a human male, remember how easily I could carry you?"

George nodded, "Well, if a lamia is protecting her family and she is in a fighting mood? As Roger would say? 'It ain't gonna happen!'"

At the sight of George's deepening frown, Mia said softly. "I do agree with you dearest. My parents can be stubborn for reasons that make sense only to themselves, they'll see it your way eventually."

George looked at his wife with worried eyes and said quietly. "I just don't want it to be after they've been captured, or worse!"

Mia looped her tail around George and she held him to her lush bosom, his arms slipped around her and they just held each other.

Rachel said softly, "We land in about two hours, I'll get the lights." she rose to leave the passenger cabin and was amused to see Mia's long tail partly uncoil and reach out to press the cabin light switch to dim the lights, then re-coil around George again.

Rachel simply chuckled and said, "Show off!" as she exited the darkened cabin.

The rest of the journey was a blur of hastily getting Mia back under wraps and back on the gurney during refuelings "Just in case" Since no one entered or exited the Gulfstream, their precautions proved unnecessary.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The final landing and getting through customs at Phoenix international, was a little dodgy and Rachel did all of the talking. While a seemingly unconscious Mia was rolled off the plane and into a waiting ambulance. The couple rode in back while Rachel dealt with the driver as he took them to the university medical school and their internal medicine laboratory. There, Mia was off loaded and rolled into the lab where they met a young woman named Sara Thompson. Rachel greeted Sara with a hug and when they separated, Rachel turned to the couple and said cheerfully,

"George, Mia, this is Sara Thompson, she is a medical imaging technician here and she will be taking all of the images of you Mia."

Rachel said to Sara,

"This is Mia, she is the reason we're all here."

Rachel grinned and asked Mia. "Would you mind stretching out for Sara so she can get a better look at you?"

Mia smiled, uncovered her tail and gratefully stretched it out fully for a few seconds before she coiled it up again.

"Ahhh! That feels so good! After being so confined all those hours, this is wonderful!"

Mia sighed and smiled at Sara, then realized that Sara was almost weeping and her lips were trembling, she finally blurted out in a voice that edged into a squeal,

"Oh, my, Gawd! You are so gorgeous! Your tail is so amazing! I can't believe I'm looking at a real lamia!"

Sara reached out a tremulous hand and asked, "May I touch your tail? I used to help out at the reptile house at the San Diego Zoo and I always loved the pythons."

Mia nodded and Sara smiled in wonder as her soft hand gently caressed Mia's massive tail, Mia giggled and said happily, "That tickles!"

After a couple of minutes, Sara removed her hand and murmured gratefully, "Thank you!"

Sara gestured towards the imaging lab and said cheerfully,

"If you'll come with me, we can get started at once."

For the next two hours, Sara was strictly business as she drew blood samples and swabbed the inside of Mia's cheeks. When Sara held up the specimen jars, she looked at Mia for a long moment shook her head and said,

"I'm not sure how we could even collect a sample. Let's just forget that part."

George helped Sara place a couple of extra exam tables end to end and they placed Mia in the C-T scanner and scanned her lying on her back, her front and on her side. Sara weighed her and measured her length, jotting down her notes and observations all the while.

Finally, Sara smiled at them and said,

"I've copied everything we saw in the C-T scan onto this CD and into my laptop then I deleted the files in the scanner, you now have the only other copy. The bio samples are here in this box and here are your vital statistics, you weigh 350 pounds and are 26 feet long when stretched out. Just for the record, I did not see any abnormalities or tumors inside you, so I'd say you're pretty healthy!" she concluded with a grin.

Rachel walked in and announced,

"Your ride out to the ranch is here!"

Mia looked at Sara and Rachel and asked them,

"Mind if I go under my own power?" Rachel grinned, "Sure! Why not?"

Mia slipped off of the examination table, took George's extended hand and together they exited the laboratory building.

The big Chevy van was waiting and Rachel opened the side passenger door, Mia slipped inside and soon after, the van eased out into traffic and headed out of town. Mia was all eyes as they drove through town, to her it was all wondrous and new. The city lights and the other vehicles all moving in a rhythm, an ebb and flow of traffic. Rachel maneuvered the van onto the freeway and soon the lights of Phoenix, Arizona were far behind them. Rachel steered the van southwesterly and roughly an hour later, Rachel pulled up alongside a light green pickup truck and stopped. Mia sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes then glanced around and asked sleepily,

"Where are we now?"

As if in answer, a man dressed in a forest service uniform stepped out of the pickup and came to the driver's side window. He grinned at Rachel and said,

"I'm Chief Ranger Stan Thompson, You're a bit early, I like that!"

Rachel grinned back and said, "Considering how far we've come, I like it too! Are you my guide?"

"I sure am, miss..."

"It's Mrs., sorry!" Replied Rachel.

He grinned at her and remarked,

"Not a problem, I just need to know who I'm talking too, that's all."

He touched the brim of his hat in a salute and said,

"Just follow me, it's easy to get lost out here at night."

Soon, they were following the truck over hill and across dry washes, the tires crunching in the gravel.

Eventually they stopped at a locked gate, the man got out, unlocked the gate, swung it open and waved them through.

Rachel waited for him to resume driving and she fell in behind him, the road got fairly rough and tortuously snaked its way through and over the hills and descended into a valley.

At the far end of the valley was a soft glow, the lights of a lonely house beckoned. The road wound up and around a shoulder and there the house sat on a site beneath a ridge and overlooking both the valley and the desert beyond it. The truck finally pulled up to the softly lit rustic house and stopped. Rachel pulled up alongside of the truck, stopped and shut off the van. Silence fell over them like a great cloak. Rachel said quietly, "We are here!"

George and Mia looked at each other and they hugged tightly. Rachel opened her door and stepped outside, George opened the side door and they got out, he held out his hand and Mia took it as they approached the house.

Chief Thompson whistled softly and declared,

"They sure weren't kidding when they told me you were special, Mrs. Bryce."

Mia smiled at him and said,

"Thank you, I appreciate what you've done for me and my husband. You're welcome to visit us anytime!"

Rachel chimed in with, "I'm sure Chief Thompson, that you now appreciate our need for discretion here!"

He chuckled and replied,

"I do respect your desire for privacy and even though this ranch is private property, it is surrounded by government land, I can have my my rangers check in on you two from time to time and I'm pretty sure my girl will be here often."

"Oh? Why is that?" Asked Mia, Thompson grinned at her and replied, "My daughter Sara is the medical imaging specialist who examined you, she's really into costuming and loves really big snakes. You, Mia, fall into both categories!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Rachel pulled some keys out of her pocket and unlocked the stout front door. Stepping inside, she flipped a switch and bright lights came on inside the rustic house. Mia's face lit up and she clapped her hands in her delight, to her it was a palace. Rachel grinned at her and said.

"Welcome to your new home!" as she handed Mia the keys to the house. Mia took the keys and held them to her bosom as her amber eyes welled up with tears. George took her in his arms and held her closely. Mia squeezed him briefly and faced Rachel to say in a voice thick with emotion.

"You all have been so kind to me, I'm overwhelmed with amazement and don't know just what to say, except thank you so much!" She and Rachel embraced warmly for a moment.

Chief Thompson glanced at his watch, cleared his throat and said,

"Well folks, I hate to leave when the party has just started, but I've got a ways to go tonight before I call it a day."

George extended his hand and said gratefully, "Thanks for escorting us here, we sure couldn't have found this place on our own!"

Mia smiled at him as he tipped his hat to her and said, "I sure never expected to meet anyone like you Mia. It's been a pleasure!"

He started up his truck and soon, his taillights disappeared in the gloom.

Rachel looked at the couple and said,

"The house is fully stocked with food and drink and the truck has a full tank of gas. There is a satellite connection and the propane has just been filled. You'll have to turn on the pump for the well to get water and your electricity is via solar panels on the roof and big batteries in the service shed."

George was looking around and smiling, then he said incredulously,

"I still can't believe what has happened. I mean, I didn't expect to fall in love with Mia so deeply when I met her. I didn't expect to marry her nor to find ourselves on a ranch in Arizona wondering how we got here so fast!"

He was about to step inside the house, when Mia's powerful tail slipped gently around his waist and she pulled him to her for a kiss. Moments later, their lips parted reluctantly and Mia said firmly,

"I know it's the human tradition for the husband to carry the bride across the threshold. But, I weigh more than twice as much as you do and I am stronger, so we will do this in our own way!" Mia scooped him up in her shapely arms and they sinuated across the house threshold together, kissing all the while.

Rachel clapped her hands and yelled, "Bravo Mia! Or should I say Brava?! Anyway, congratulations you guys!"

Mia set George down and she grinned from ear to ear as he swayed slightly and said to her, "When you kiss someone, you don't kid around do you?"

She replied gaily, "You're my husband silly! Of course I'm going to kiss you as much as I like!" Rachel laughed and said lightly, "I guess it's true what they say about lamias. The man that marries one will never know loneliness again!"

Mia smiled at Rachel and said invitingly, "It's a long, dark, drive back, why don't you stay the night here and you can go back in the morning."

When Rachel hesitated briefly, George commented, "Don't tell me you're going to put a frown on Mia's pretty face?"

Rachel grinned and retorted, "Nah! I'll leave that up to you!" She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, rubbed her finger on the screen briefly then pressed her fingertip against one of the icons on the screen. A few moments later she spoke, "Hey babe! I'm here at the ranch, I'm staying the night and will be back tomorrow at some time. Kiss the babies for me and I'll be seein' you!" Putting her phone away Rachel grinned and declared, "Let's look around this place!"

They spent a little time exploring the rustic dwelling. All of the ground level floors were either field stone or flagstone slabs closely fitted and joined with color matching grout. The rest of the rooms were raised two steps and had hardwood flooring with exception of the kitchen and bath rooms with tiled floors. Behind the house was a large redwood hot tub under the patio roof, Mia immediately sinuated up to it, lifted the cover and dipped the tip of her tail in it. She grinned and cried happily,

"I can bathe in here!"

Rachel laughed and said cheerfully,

"I suppose you could, but that's a hot tub for soaking in, not bathing!"

Rachel grinned at Mia's puzzled expression and said, "Hot tubs are for soaking in not bathing, you bathe first then you climb in and soak. A soak in a hot tub can be very relaxing and romantic! Don't worry, we'll set up a temporary outdoor shower for you and you can soak in the hot tub after washing up."

George grinned at his wife and declared,

"We'll start looking into an indoor bath tub big enough for your needs in the morning."

When they had finished looking over the house, Mia was all smiles as she averred,

"I am so amazed! I never thought I would be here in this magical land so far from home, and find myself living in such luxury."

Rachel looked at Mia thoughtfully and remarked,

"We will need to get you some more clothes, what you have is not nearly enough!"

George frowned and asked,

"Just how are we going to do that? I can't exactly take Mia into the nearest clothing store, she'll start a riot or something!"

Rachel grinned and replied,

"No we couldn't do that! She would create quite a scene, though I do admit that some avant garde designers would lose their minds over Mia!"

Mia asked softly, "What could happen if I'm seen?"

Rachel said flatly,

"People would ask where you had come from, and if word got out that you came from southern Algeria? The Sahara would be lousy with people looking for your family, for good or ill, they would be looking!" George took Mia's hand and while holding it, he declared.

"After we have brought your entire family here and they are safe. Then maybe, just maybe, we will reveal you to the world."

Rachel pulled out a dressmakers tape and announced,

"In the meantime we take measurements! That'll give me something to work with."

She spent several minutes wrapping the tape around Mia at all the critical areas, writing down the measurements and then staring at them before commenting,

"Well, one thing's for certain, if you were an ordinary human female you would still stand out! You'd be quite the heroic figure of a girl, standing about six feet tall with well muscled arms and shoulders like some sort of Amazonian warrior. Sorry Mia, you'll never be part of the crowd!"

It was some time after midnight when the excitement had worn off and the sands of sleep weighed heavily on their eyelids, so they turned in for the night. George and Mia snuggled together on the king size bed where sleep overtook them while Rachel burrowed into the bed in one of the spare bed rooms.

George slowly woke up with Mia's smooth coils wrapped loosely around him and her arms holding him closely. To the uninitiated, at first it would appear that George was being suffocated in the coils of an immense python. To George and Mia it was to become their normal sleeping habit. They lay quietly in their wedded bliss until Mia murmured,

"Something smells wonderful!"

George smiled, sniffed a couple of times and replied softly in her ear,

"I think Rachel's gotten into the kitchen. Shall we go see what she's done?"

Mia uncoiled to release George and he handed her a bathrobe while he pulled on some sweatpants.

Rachel grinned at them as they entered the kitchen and said cheerfully,

"Breakfast is ready and the coffee is fresh, so dig in!"

Mia smiled, sinuated over to Rachel and hugged her. Then she looked out the window and saw the Arizona desert awash in the morning sunlight, she gasped and went outside on the patio to gaze out over the landscape, her beautiful face a study in wonder.

George came out with the coffee and stood beside her for a moment before asking gently,

"Like it? It's not the Sahara, but it's still a desert."

Mia sat down on her coils, took the coffee he offered her and said,

"It's so beautiful! I want to do a little exploring after breakfast, okay?"

She closed her eyes and her long, forked tongue flickered in and out of her mouth a few times as she tasted her new home. Opening her eyes again, Mia said quietly,

"I want to tell my family about this wonderful place with its new tastes and smells and textures." She took George's hand and said in earnest,

"I need to have my family here and safe with me, no, us!"

He smiled at her, squeezed her hand and said quietly,

"After breakfast, we'll send a message to your folks. They've got that computer we gave them and it will receive photos, we'll take some pictures of ourselves and this place. We'll send them the photos and ask them to join us here."

He sipped at his coffee and said,

"C'mon inside babe, breakfast's getting cold!"

After breakfast and a brief discussion with Rachel about Mia's family concerns. They went for a hike to explore the vicinity of the ranch house and take lots of photos.

Mia delighted in the Arizona desert, it was so unlike the Sahara she had grown up in. Where her homeland had been the oasis surrounded by a sea of sand, gravel and rock.

Arizona had its rocky outcroppings, gravel beds and cacti and bushes, the wildlife and the terrain was all new to her and she smiled as she sinuated through the scrub and over the rocks and boulders with forked tongue flicking in and out occasionally as she tasted the air around her.

Approaching a cluster of giant saguaro cactus, she sinuated up a big one and reared up as high as she could next to the gigantic saguaro cactus that was easily over two hundred years old and peered curiously at an owl's nest perched among its massive, spiny limbs.

Shortly afterwards, she spied a desert tortoise, quickly caught it and examined it closely before setting it back down and watching it plod rapidly away. Mia cried in delight at seeing a rock face with Indian petroglyphs scattered across it and she found some Indian artifacts nearby. Her face smiling all the while at the new discoveries she was making.

During this time, George was taking scores of photographs of her in her delight at seeing all these new things. It was almost mid-day when a growing appetite encouraged them to stop and turn back, they returned to the house and found that Rachel had prepared a luncheon and set up a computer and was finalizing the satellite feed. She grinned when she saw them returning and said,

"I was starting to get a little concerned about you two getting lost out there, but then I remembered Mia's sense of taste and smell. I've nearly got the computer set up finished, if you have photos to send, we'll be ready very shortly."

Mia tucked into the lunch with enthusiasm, the food was all new to her and she ate everything on her plate. Rachel looked over at George and said teasingly,

"Aren't you feeding this girl? She eating like she's been starved!"

"Not hardly!" Retorted George, "She has a very good appetite and there's more of her to feed!"

Mia grinned and declared happily, "It was all so good! Once I started, I couldn't stop! Besides, I might be eating for two now!"

Rachel pretended to look shocked and said teasingly, "You two didn't waste any time did you? Congratulations!"

Placing the camera chip into the card reader, George copied every photo he took that day into a folder. Rachel sent a copy of the folder to Mia's family along with a brief message from her to her family.

It was a variation on. "Wish you were here. Photos included!"

Afterwards, Rachel said cheerfully,

"The folder went to both Roger and your family, that way if they didn't get it Roger will, and he will check with them to see if they're alright."

Next, he rooted around in the workshop behind the ranch house and tinkered together a showerhead and sprayer. This was put up next to the hot tub for Mia's use and hooked into the house plumbing.

After making a few adjustments, George came into the living room and after clearing his throat he announced, in his best imitation of an English butler. "Madame, Your bath is ready!"

Mia clapped her hands in her delight and she sinuated outside to see what he had done.

Rachel muttered, "This, I gotta see!" and she followed along behind.

The plumbing work was clearly a lash-up, but it worked and while George went back inside to round up some bath towels and wash cloths, Mia eagerly stripped off her clothing and happily coiled up under the spray of warm water and played with the hand held sprayer.

Rachel grinned at her and said, "Lamia or not, you are one happy kid right now!"

Mia impishly squirted her with the sprayer and giggled merrily, Rachel yelped in surprise and cried,

"Oh! So you wanna play with water, eh?"

She stepped up to the hot tub and flung a scoop of water at Mia, Mia laughed, sprayed Rachel right in the face and declared,

"I'm already wet silly!"

Rachel spluttered and cried,

"That does it! You're on, sister!"

Rachel tore off her drenched clothing, grabbed a bucket, filled it from the tub and waded into the waterfight with relish.

George, having gathered Mia's shower things, came outside to see how his bride was doing and got a real eyefull. Water was splashed everywhere, the hand sprayer was flailing about uselessly and soaking the area, and his shy, blushing bride? Utterly naked and coiled around an equally naked Rachel and the two were convulsed in laughter. George stood stock still, stunned at the sight of so much giggling and jiggling female flesh.

Rachel spotted George standing there with his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out, she guffawed and yelled,

"C'mon in, th' water's fine!"

Mia laughed and cried gaily,

"How sweet! You've brought my shower things!"

Rachel giggled and said merrily,

"George, I wish you could see how red your face is right now. It's precious!"

George grinned bashfully and replied, "I just wasn't ready to see you naked too, Rachel. I've gotten kind of used to Mia's willingness to shed her clothes. You being nekkid I didn't expect! Not that I mind, I was just suprised."

Rachel grinned and slipped out of Mia's coils, she stepped up to the hot tub and climbed in before saying soberly,"I think Mia's ready for her bath now."

Then she dissolved into more giggles.

George felt Mia's tail slipping around his waist and he was drawn helplessly towards his bride.

Mia purred in his ear,

"Now, I want a good scrubbing dearest. My tail itches and I think I'll be shedding soon."

The tip of Mia's tail was nearly as sensitive as a finger and it kept tugging at his clothing and insinuating itself into his garments until George finally gave up and stripped down himself. Tossing the last of his clothing aside, he blushed scarlet as he declared,

"There! I'm naked... Are you two happy now?"

Rachel whistled loudly and called out,

"Mia, you are one lucky girl! My husband hasn't looked that good in ages!"

All poor George could do was blush scarlet, again.

Mia snuggled her tail around him and said playfully,

"If you're that embarrassed dear, you can wrap a towel around yourself, I won't mind pulling it off again!."

George, still blushing, grinned at her and said weakly,

"It doesn't matter now, Rachel's gotten her strip show and I saw hers, so we're even now!"

He glanced over at Rachel and she grinned before making a crossing motion across her chest and saying,

"I'll be good now, no more lewd remarks, I promise!"

Rachel climbed out of the tub and declared,

"I am going to find some wine and scare up a few more towels. I have a feeling you're gonna need 'em!"

Rachel strolled into the house as if walking about in the buff was a daily occurence for her.

George picked up the hand sprayer and shampoo and proceeded to wash Mia's long, thick, chestnut tresses as she sat on her pythonic coils with a blissful look on her face.

He then took up a wash cloth and soap and began scrubbing Mia's entire body. He started at her neck and shoulders and worked his way down her body while Mia softly 'Ooohed and aahed' and, 'Oh Yes! Right there!'d the whole time.

Rachel had rejoined them and was sipping at her golden vintage and soaking in the tub whilst George was vigorously scrubbing along Mia's powerful tail as she lay stretched out in a loop on the sun warmed flagstone deck.

When he was finished, he straightened up and declared,

"If there's any dirt left on you, I sure haven't found it!"

Mia grinned and stretched as she said gratefully,

"That was wonderful! I haven't felt this clean in ages!"

Rachel chuckled and remarked, "When I get home I'm gonna have a long talk with my hubby about him neglecting his husbandly duties. I'm kinda jealous of the scrubbing you just gave Mia!"

Mia sinuated up to the spacious hot tub and slipped into the warm waters alongside Rachel, her face showing utter bliss.

Rachel smiled and handed Mia a glass of wine, Mia sipped at it and asked, "This has an interesting taste, what is it?"

Rachel grinned and said,

"It's chardonnay, a white wine dear, never tried it before?"

Mia shook her pretty head and said,

"No, we couldn't make wine at the oasis, no grapes. My father told us about wine, but no, we never had any."

George looked a little doubtful as he climbed in beside her and commented,

"I hope you don't get too 'Happy' if you have a little wine."

Rachel grinned at him and remarked quizzically, "Afraid she'll get too frisky?"

George laughed and retorted,

"The frisky part I can handle, after all, she is my wife. It's the sore ribs and bruising afterwards."

Rachel whistled softly and asked,

"That passionate huh?"

George blushed, grinned at her and nodded knowingly before he responded. "Oh yes, and I wouldn't trade it for the world! A man who has been loved by a lamia will never love anyone else."

Mia finished her wine and set the glass down, she smiled at George with half-lidded eyes and she slipped her arms and tail around him while he reached for her as well.

Rachel saw them snuggle together and kiss tenderly, the kisses grew warmer and before long, their hands began to roam freely above and below the waterline.

Rachel finished her wine and quietly exited the hot tub to go back inside, leaving the young couple to their ardor.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rachel finished her simple breakfast and set her dishes in the sink. She left a note by the microwave oven thanking them for their hospitality over the last two days and that she would be getting in touch real soon. The drive back into town was fairly routine except for her head ached a little bit from the wine and merrymaking the night before.

She stopped at a coffee house for a hot cuppa then called her boss and announced happily,

"We pulled it off! They're at the ranch right now and she is very happy and I think we'll be seeing children before too much longer!"

He whistled and asked,

"How's George holding up? If the legends are true, she'll wear him out! Did they agree to the body scan?"

Rachel chuckled and replied,

"George is managing, if anything, he reaches for her as much as she reaches for him! Yes, we have a full body scan with ultrasound, MRI and CT scans on a sub-millimeter level, short of actual dissection we couldn't get a better idea of her anatomy. With that and the biosamples, we should be able to place her on the taxonomic chart."

After a pause, her boss remarked, "Now, we have to get the rest of her family out of Algeria. They are too precious to leave in such a dangerous place!"

Rachel nodded and replied, "They are in agreement with me about extracting the rest of their family. Roger Tate did give them a weapon and some ammunition, but it's more of a placebo when it comes to self defense against militant fundamentalists. If they find out lamias do exist, they'll turn over every stone until they've found them."

"Agreed," replied her boss, "I'll start making the contacts today. Right now I want you to get her settled in, whatever she needs, you can get it. In fact, take the rest of the week to do nothing but settle her in."

Rachel chuckled and remarked,"I guess I should've called you before leaving them, I'm at our favorite coffee emporium right now getting my caffeine fix filled up!"

Her boss chuckled and said, "That's what you get for being so good, Rachel. Keep me posted!"

Rachel then called home, her husband Keith answered the phone and said cheerfully, "Hey stranger! You finally remembered me, your endlessly patient husband. I take it you're back from whereever it was they sent you this time?"

Rachel grinned and replied, "I love you too sweetheart, yeah, I'm back, but I'm not back home yet. We got the extraction accomplished quite smoothly I'm happy to say."

"So, where are you right now?" Asked her husband, "What'll I tell the kiddies?"

Rachel chuckled and replied, "I'm in Phoenix and I will be helping our refugee settle in for the rest of the week."

Keith replied, "You're not that far away then, can we expect you home tonight?"

Rachel said softly, "You sure can! Though it'll be a bit late."

"Great! I"ll see you then, shall I chill some wine?"

Rachel grinned and replied breathily, "Of course tiger, meeeooowww!" Keith laughed and hung up.

Later that morning, Rachel called Sara Thompson about making arrangements for Mia to visit a couple of clothing stores for a private shopping trip. Not knowing what she might like and wanting to keep it quiet, Rachel had thought of Sara first for suggestions.

"Hello?" Sara answered.

Rachel asked, "Sara, this is Rachel, are you busy?"

"Not really, what's up?" She replied.

Rachel answered, "I need to get clothes and stuff for Mia and I can't have a scene. Do you know any small clothing stores where the owners are pretty cool about keeping things quiet?"

Sara chuckled and replied, "I sure do! I know several stores that make and sell clothes for costuming and Ren Faires, they are pretty cool about customer privacy. Sometimes a big celebrity will get fitted for a movie costume and not want to be gawked at or have photos pop up on the web."

Rachel said assertively, "They have to be trustworthy about this, We're trying to get the rest of Mia's family out of harm's way and any cellphone photos posted on the web, any mention, could jeopardize her family's safety. I have to be adamant about this."

Sara quickly agreed, "Oh God yes! I agree! I want to meet her family too! I'll ask around and get right back to you!"

Rachel smiled and signed off with, "That would be perfect, I'll call Mia and let her know what we're up to."

After hanging up, Rachel sent an email off to Roger Tate detailing her progress. Then she checked her remaining emails until finally, she closed out her account and logged off. She removed the flash drive with her critical files in it and pocketed it.

Rachel then called George.

George barely reached his cell phone in time. First, he had to wriggle partly out of the coils of Mia's powerful tail, and disentangle himself from her arms to reach out and snatch up the phone to answer it in time, "Hello?!"

"Hi George! Are you up? Or did I call at a bad time?" Asked Rachel.

Settling back into Mia's warm embrace, George replied, "Actually, we were just getting up, Mia's still adjusting to the new time zone."

Rachel chuckled and replied, "Okay... We'll go with that for now. Anyway, I called to let you guys know that I'm working on getting Mia some clothing. Sara knows some clothiers who can be trusted to be discreet and she's contacting them right now about her coming in for fitting her out with a wardrobe."

George grinned and replied, "Okay, just how are you going to work this? Mia doesn't exactly blend in real well."

Rachel replied, "We can use the van and bring it around back of the store and slip her in through the back door."

Mia, by this time was fully awake and listening with interest. George smiled at her and asked , "Would you like to talk to Rachel for a minute or two? She's planning a shopping trip for you."

Mia nodded emphatically 'yes!' George said to Rachel, "I'm gonna hand this over to Mia and you two can gab about this."

He handed the phone to Mia, slipped out of her coils and padded off to the bathroom to wash up.

Rachel pulled up and parked the van in front of the ranch house. George came out with Mia and he opened the sliding door for her, she kissed George then slipped into the van and coiled herself up to sit behind Rachel. George leaned in the side door and kissed her again, causing Rachel to chuckle and say, "I'll have her home in a few hours, take it easy!"

George grinned at both of them and said cheerfully as he closed the side door, "You two behave yourselves now, we don't need your faces on the five o'clock news!"

Rachel just laughed and replied, "We'll be good, I promise!" and they drove off.

George watched the van disappearing into the distance.

With a start, he realized that this was the first time they had been separated since that day they consummated their relationship in the shade of a great palm tree. Even though in reality it had only been a few days, he still felt a pang at their separation. He went back into the house to work on opening up the gun safe he'd found hidden in a closet.

As they entered town, Mia put on the sunglasses Roger had given her. They would hide her feline amber eyes from other motorists while a blanket covered her tail.

Rachel pulled into the parking lot near a coffee shop where Sara was waiting for them. She stood near an anonymous white Toyota 4 runner and smiled as they stopped, she picked up a cardboard tray laden with coffee cups and climbed into the back of Rachel's van and sat alongside Mia.

"Hi!" she began, "I didn't know if you guys wanted any coffee, so I took a chance that you would. Hi Mia! I'm so glad to see you again, I hope you like my friends' shop, they make and sell some really neat clothes and costume items for steampunk, cosplay and Renfaire. I've sworn them to secrecy about you and I would trust them with my own life!"

She paused suddenly and blushed brightly,

"I'm sorry! I'm rattling on aren't I? I'm kinda nervous and I do that when I'm nervous... I'll shut up now!"

Rachel chuckled and said soothingly, "It's alright dear, we're a little nervous too. It's not every day that a lamia goes clothes shopping and I'm nervous about something going wrong and Mia being seen by the public."

Sara directed them to the older part of town and down an alley in back of the clothing store called 'The Questing Beast, clothing, costumes and more!' They pulled up and backed into the parking stall nearest the rear entrance.

Sara got out first and entered the building, a few moments later she reappeared with two other young women and they stood by with blankets to block the view as Mia slipped out the back of the van and entered the store.

Moments later, they too went inside pausing briefly to hang a 'Closed due to a family emergency' sign on the firmly locked back door.

George fumbled with the combination lock for a while, then he started looking through the house for a clue to the combination on the stubborn safe door. On a hunch, he looked through the notes for the house, size of the air filter and water shut off procedures and emergency contact numbers.

Hidden amongst the numbers was a combination to a bicycle lock, he noticed that because there was no bicycle out in the garage. He tried the combination and soon heard the sound of the lock clicking and with a grin, he opened the heavy steel door.

Standing inside the safe were a pump action shotgun, a lever action rifle and a couple of pistols hanging from pegs inside the door. After clearing the weapons, George laid the guns out and looked them over, they were fairly typical of a ranchers armament.

The lever action rifle was in .30-30 caliber, the pump shotgun a 12 gauge and the two pistols were .45's. Not the best for a firefight, but vastly better than nothing at all. The remoteness of the ranch and its proximity to the southern border of the U.S. meant that any help could be hours, not minutes away.

George didn't like that, there might be times when he had to be away from home on a mission and the thought of Mia alone, left him cold.

He knew that Mia could defend herself if it was only one or maybe two intruders, but if they were armed or more numerous she could be in terrible danger.

He picked up the ammo can on the floor of the safe, it had the ammunition and a couple of spare magazines for the pistols he'd found.

Once inside the store, Sara led the way past the sewing room and into the showroom.

She stepped aside and the two saw a middle aged couple dressed like Victorian era shopkeepers.

He was a tall, thin, balding man and he wore wire rimmed, oval lensed glasses sitting low on his nose while a measuring tape was draped over his shoulders ready for immediate use.

She was nearly the opposite of him, short and a bit on the plump side.

Covering her clothing was an apron with many pockets, out of these pockets stuck various implements of her trade, scissors, shears, thread trimmers, tailors crayons, a note pad and a stubby pencil.

She looked at the world through the octagonal framed glasses perched firmly on her snub nose.

The younger women who had held the blankets were clearly the daughters of the couple, one being tall and slender and the other short and a bit plump, in a pleasing sort of way.

Rachel stepped aside and the couple got their first look at Mia. As one, their mouths gaped and their eyes opened wide, they looked at each other and their smiles became grins and in one voice, they cried, "She's real, our special client is real!"

They embraced and hugged each other fiercely, then the man turned to Mia, dabbed at a tear in his eye and said in a voice thick with emotion,

"All of our lives, we have waited for someone so special as you to come here for clothes. When Sara first came to us about you, we didn't quite know what to expect. All of us in the fantasy costuming community know of lamias, but until today, you were a being out of legend, a myth. Making clothing for you will be our top priority for the next few days."

The older woman stepped forward and took Mia's hand, she gazed at Mia for several moments before saying.

"You are more beautiful than I ever imagined, I will be proud to sew your clothing for you!"

Mia blushed and averted her eyes as she stammered, "I... I, don't know what to say. It's embarrassing to get this much attention."

They both laughed and the woman said cheerfully, "We didn't mean to embarrass you dear. It's just that we feel so privileged, we've made lamia costumes for young women who wanted something dramatic. We never expected to actually meet one in the flesh!"

She smiled at Mia and asked, "I didn't get your name dear, mine's Edith and my husband is named Edward. Our daughters are named Iris and Magnolia." Mia smiled and said. "It's Mia and my husband is named George, he's at home right now."

George took aim at the soup can he'd set out to shoot at, at 50 yards or so, it was a fairly small target and would be a slight challenge to hit. The rifle barked and he felt a jab against his shoulder, the can went flying, a .30 caliber hole in its middle, it landed and rolled a bit, he fired again and sent the can spinning away even further, satisfying himself that the sights were lined up properly.

George fired a few shots through the pump shotgun and then fired a few shots from each .45. Satisfied that the guns were working properly, he cleaned and oiled them before locking them up again.

Keeping out one of the .45's for 'just in case', he loaded its clip and stashed it in their bedroom for easy access. He would teach Mia how to shoot later on.

Glancing at the wall clock, George began preparing a dinner for himself and Mia, he paused a moment then added a bit more just in case Rachel was invited to dinner by Mia. Everything was placed into the slow cooker and he turned it on. Yawning a bit, George went into their bedroom slipped off his shoes and lay down to take a little nap.

Sara and Rachel chatted with Iris and Magnolia while Edward swiftly took measurements of Mia and he called them out to Edith, who jotted them down on a chart.

He measured everything, he even measured her hands for glove and ring sizes.

When he was finished he turned to Mia and asked, "What sort of look are you interested in? We can do any period costume, even (Heaven forbid!) modern street clothes."

Mia looked a bit puzzled and finally she said, "I don't really know what to get, I can't really go out in public yet, but I do want to be able to dress up a bit for my husband. Y'know, keep him interested!" She finished with a smile.

Rachel chuckled and commented drily, "Trust me dear, George ain't gonna even look at another girl, even if she's naked and you're in a cloth sack. He'll only have eyes for you!."

Sara laughed and said cheerfully, "You can wear whatever you like Mia, with your looks? You'll knock 'em dead at faire!"

Edward smiled at Mia and said, "You don't have to make any decisions right now, we've got all of your measurements and can whip something up in no time. When you and George are ready you can come back in and make a decision then."

Iris spoke up, "Dad? Let's have her look in the showroom and maybe we can model some of our more popular tops for her or even have her try something on." Edward grinned at his older daughter and replied, "You're right Iris. Mom and I got so caught up in the moment that we forgot about our showroom!"

He gestured to Mia and said, "Right this way dear, our girls will help you out now, this is their bailiwick. Edith and I do the special items."

Iris grinned at her dad and she said to Mia, "Would you like to come with me? Magnolia and I can help you out in here."

Iris led the way and Mia sinuated right behind her, her head turning from side to side as she admired the offerings. The show room was set up like a vintage clothiers shop, hats and gloves in one part and shirts, skirts and blouses in another. A display case held small handbags and purses while another had necklaces and other jewelry on display.

Several mannequins were dressed in elaborate19th century attire with various mechanical elements worked into the design. Mia stopped and looked at one in particular that was topped by a tiny bowler hat cocked at a jaunty angle.

She smiled and said, "I like this one, but how does that tiny hat stay on?"

Magnolia grinned and replied, "It's held on by hairpins. We sell a fair amount of these for ladies steampunk outfits and will match them to the fabric color."

"Steampunk?"

Iris chimed in with, "Steampunk is a fashion style that has elements of 19th century technology incorporated into it. The most common being brass gears or goggles added to a hat for 'aviating'."

"Aviating?" Asked a puzzled looking Mia.

Instead of explaining further, Iris got out a picture book of steampunk artworks. In it were fanciful paintings of fashionable people strolling on the promenades of vast airships floating along above a fantastic landscape of soaring towers and elevated tracks with steam powered locomotives speeding along. She handed the book to Mia and declared, "This should answer any questions you might have."

Mia coiled up her long tail and sat on her own coils as she perused the fanciful book. Magnolia chuckled and remarked, "That's cool, you'll always have a place to sit."

Mia grinned at her and replied cheerfully, "I can also sit just like you guys do, I just need room for my tail."

Finishing her perusal of the book, Mia handed it back to Iris and thanked her. They shooed Edward out of the showroom for this part and spent the next hour or so fitting Mia with a variety of brassieres with varying degrees of support and opacity.

Next came the blouses, some more revealing than others. The ladies were in agreement that Mia had a splendid figure and it needed little help in catching a man's eye, the goal was to catch the eye while remaining fashionable about it.

Mia finally settled on a few blouses and matching shawls, a couple of skirts and a light walking coat for cooler days.

At the cash register, Rachel pulled out her credit card and paid for Mia's things much to Mia's discomfiture, she fretted, "This is so embarrassing, I don't have any...What do you call it?...Money!"

Edith, who rang up the purchases smiled and said cheerfully, "Don't worry dear, once word gets out that you buy your clothes from us, it will more than make up for any momentary financial problems."

Rachel grinned and replied, "It's not a problem, I'll get reimbursed by the museum as part of getting George and Mia settled into their new home. So it all works out."

They all trooped out back to see Mia off and after a brief exchange of hugs and 'thank you's!' Mia slithered into the van and seated herself on her coils while Rachel strapped herself in.

A few minutes later they pulled into a drive through lane for a fast burger joint and Rachel ordered food for both of them. The pink haired girl with the ear studs barely gave Mia a second glance as she handed the bag of food and drink through the window just before they sped off.

While Rachel drove, Mia got her first taste of an American classic, a cheese burger with french fries and a medium soft drink.

Rachel laughed as Mia quickly gobbled it all up, "Whoa there! You act like you've never had food before." she said with a laugh.

Mia grinned at her and replied, "I've never tasted anything like it, I couldn't help myself!"

Rachel grinned and remarked, "Don't worry, we will introduce you to all kinds of foods here, the variety available is almost staggering. I can organize a barbecue or two and you can meet my family and get some good food as well." Mia smiled at the thought.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The sound of the front door getting kicked open woke George from his nap.

He snapped awake and grabbed the nearby .45, his shoes and cell phone. He slipped out the back side of the house and ducked out of sight.

Peering through some shrubs, he watched the house while tying his shoes and checking his pistol. He had the pistol and one extra loaded clip, just enough for self defense and none for heroics.

Keeping low behind the shrubbery, he worked his way around to the front of the house. There in the driveway were two battered, dust covered pickup trucks, both had the look of many a hard mile out in the desert back country.

Locals most likely, locals with a cavalier attitude about trespassing and petty crimes.

A tall, denim clad, muscular male figure stepped out the broken front door, his long dark hair was tied in a ponytail and mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes, he took a drag on his cigarette and ground it out on the stonework beside the ruined door, then stepped back inside the house.

Crouching low, George retreated up a small gulley curving up behind the house and slipped behind a clump of rocks where he could watch the house unseen. He opened his cellphone and pressed the buttons rapidly.

After few rings, a voice answered, "Rangers office, Thompson speaking, how may I help you?" George spoke carefully, "George Bryce here. Stan, I've got a trespasser problem right now, I'm fine and I am armed. I beat it out the back door when they kicked in the front door. Mia's in town with Rachel so she's safe."

There was a brief pause and Thompson asked, "Any idea of how many there are?"

George replied tersely, "I know of one, a big guy with a long ponytail and all muscular, but there are two pickup trucks, both kind of wornout looking, GMC's I think."

Chief Thompson replied, "Sit tight and stay out of sight, I know that guy, he and his friends are tough customers, we're on our way. I'm sending a Sheriff's helicopter ahead of us, so they'll get there soon."

"I'll be here." Replied George and he settled down behind the rocks to wait.

Returning from their shopping trip, Rachel and Mia chatted gaily about the experience and how much she enjoyed meeting the Wharton's.

Mia grinned and said, "Wait'll George sees this stuff, he'll love it!" Rachel laughed and replied, "He loves the girl wearing it, that stuff is just eye candy!"

Rachel held up her phone and pulled up a phone number, tapping the screen she handed the phone to Mia and said, "Ask him if he's decent?"

The phone's suddenly buzzing in his pocket nearly gave George heart failure, opening it quickly he hissed, "What?!"

"D...Darling?!" it was Mia, George reined in his anxiety and replied more calmly, " I'm okay, I'm outside hiding in the bushes, we've got trespassers; I've called the rangers and they're on the way."

"Darling? Are you all right?" asked a worried sounding Mia.

George replied, "I'm fine actually and I'm armed. Where are you two?"

Before Mia could reply, he spotted the white van rounding the last bend below the house.

George all but shouted, "Stop right where you are! I can see you and that means so can they."

The van stopped suddenly and to George's horror, the passenger door opened and Mia slid out, she slipped into the bushes before he could say anything and started out towards the house.

George ground his teeth in frustration and began heading back down the small gulley, grimly determined to head off Mia before she could get into trouble.

He all but tumbled down the last stretch of gulley and barely kept his feet under him as he suddenly appeared in front of the startled trespassers, they dropped the loot they had gathered and dodged behind the nearest truck, drawing their pistols.

George ducked behind a convenient boulder and heard a flat popping sound, the bullets splatting against the rock told him what the sound was, he was under fire!

A movement to his left caught his eye, Mia in attack mode was slithering low to the ground, hidden from the trespasser's view, her blazing eyes focused on them. George quickly snapped off a couple of shots and leapt up from behind the boulder, charging towards the trespassers while firing rapidly to make them duck.

Mia got there first, she reared up from the scrub with her eyes blazing, mouth wide open and fighting fangs fully extended, her clawed hands reaching out to rend and tear those who dared defile her home.

The apparent leader of the trespassers screamed in horror at what he was seeing; a fighting mad lamia on the attack.

Then he simply collapsed and lay still, his female companion also collapsed screaming and spontaneously relieved herself completely. The second man turned to face her and was raising his pistol when Mia tore into him with terrible strength and moments later, he lay dead.

George ran up to her and cried, "Mia! Stop! I'm okay! I'm okay..." Mia stopped at once and seemingly shrank back into a frightened young lamia, her blazing eyes dimming to amber now and streaming tears of anguish, the blaze of anger extinguished by the shock of what she had just done.

Frantically, she glomped onto him and he held her closely while she cried her heart out in anguish.

The sound of crunching gravel under tires interrupted the moment. Rachel had pulled up to see what was going on, at a glance, she saw one man's torn body lying there with a pistol still in his outstretched hand, the other male was either still unconscious or dead and the hysterical young woman reeked of her own filth.

The air was filled suddenly with the loud whop, whopping sound of helicopter rotors, the sheriff's chopper had arrived. George made no effort at hiding Mia's long tail, her secret was out in a big way now.

The chopper circled around them a few times and then flew away just as the green pickup truck of Ranger Thompson's pulled up and skidded to a halt. The truck doors flew open and suddenly, there were armed men seemingly everywhere.

George hastily dropped his pistol and stood stock still with a frightened Mia still clinging to him.

Chief Thompson looked them over quickly and yelled, "Are you alright? No injuries?" George cried, "We're okay!"

The youngest of the rangers gaped when he realized that he was seeing Mia's powerful tail and not a huge python. He blurted out, "What th' hell?! You have a tail?" Ranger Thompson barked, "You're not to discuss this with anyone! Y'got it Henderson?"

"Yessir!" quickly replied the younger ranger.

Rachel walked up, held up her I.D. and declared, "I'm responsible for this woman, any questions about her will be directed at me. Right now, I'm taking her inside where she can clean up a bit."

She took Mia's arm and the two started towards the house, Thompson called out suddenly, " Whoah! Hold up there ladies! Let us take a look inside before you enter the house!"

They waited while he and Henderson went through the house looking for anyone hiding inside. A few minutes later, they reemerged and gave them the go ahead. Moments later, Rachel and Mia went inside for her to wash up.

Ranger Ortiz was snapping photos of the sprawled trespassers and the crime scene. The young woman was still babbling about giant snakes and staring at her filthy hands while Ortiz knelt down and checked the leader's neck for a pulse.

A moment later he rose and called out, "Hey Chief! I'm not getting a pulse on this one and she's not making any sense. The other male looks like he met up with a mountain lion or something."

Ranger Thompson was getting a statement from George and he looked at George for a moment before he declared, "I'm writing this up as a self defense scenario, justifiable homicide. Anything you'd like to add?"

George shrugged and replied, "They were shooting at me when Mia surprised them, it was all over in seconds."

Ortiz commented drily, "Those two have been a two-man petty crime spree for years, the girl is a recent addition. Your lady must've put the fear of God in them to get such a reaction."

Mia emerged from the house with Rachel right behind her, she sinuated right up to Chief Thompson and held out her hands for him to cuff her. He looked at her curiously and asked, "Mrs. Bryce, just what are you doing?"

Mia blinked at him in surprise and said matter of factly, "I'm surrendering, I'm ready to be arrested now."

He smiled at her and glanced at his cohorts for a moment then replied, "You're not under arrest, you didn't do anything wrong, you were defending your home and family. George told us what happened, that man had a gun pointed at you, you are damn lucky he didn't shoot you. We'll finish up the incident report, call for a tow truck and the coroner will come get the bodies, she's already been notified and her crew is on the way."

After that, George just sat in the fitful shade and watched as first the rangers, then the coroner's crew investigated the crime scene.

As a precaution, Mia and Rachel had gone back inside the house so as not to attract any undue attention from the coroners. The tow truck arrived and quickly hauled the battered pickup trucks away.

After they and the coroner's crew had left, Mia came back out and sat with George in the shade. Chief Thompson came over to where they sat and said, "I think we're all done here, I've talked with the helicopter crew and apparently, they didn't notice Mia's tail, so we got lucky. The girl's higher than a kite on peyote, so she'll likely think it was a drug induced nightmare she had. The coroner's going to run a toxicology test on the deceased and check for hallucinogens in their systems."

He turned and beckoned to his underlings, the two stepped closer and Chief Thompson said, "Gentlemen, I want you to meet George and Mia Bryce, they live here now. Mia is from Algeria and as you can see, she's kinda special."

Mia smiled shyly at the two rangers and they smiled back.

The older one tipped his hat and said, "I'm Jorge Ortiz, I patrol the area just north of here so if you call, I'll be the one showing up."

He jerked a thumb at his younger cohort, grinned and said, "The pup here is Brad Henderson, he's still a little rough around the edges, but he'll make a fine ranger someday."

Brad flushed and retorted, "Don't listen to him, he tried to give a saguaro a ticket for littering because some owls were nesting in it. He's going senile, I swear he'd forget to eat if I didn't make sure he ate his lunch!"

He tipped his hat to Mia and said apologetically, "Sorry about the tail comment, I've never seen or heard of anyone like you ma'am and was a little surprised."

Mia smiled and extended her hand to shake his hand, their hands clasped briefly and she said cheerfully, "Just call me Mia, I'm a little young for Ma'am. Although my mother would be fine with it."

Jorge grinned and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but just what are you? My boss seems to know something about you and I'm fine with that, it's just that like Brad here, I've never seen or heard of anything or anyone like you."

George grinned and said, "Mia is a lamia from Southern Algeria, she and her family lived in a hidden oasis when I met her. I married her and brought her home with me, we hope to bring the rest of her family here before too much longer."

Brad grinned and asked, "How big of a family?" Jorge laughed and remarked, "Down boy! You just met her and already you're asking about her sister?" Brad's ruddy face flushed and he said defensively, "I was just curious, sheesh!"

George answered, "Her mom and dad and her three sisters are still out in the Sahara desert."

"Her dad?" asked Brad, George grinned and replied, "He's human like me, lamias are only female and need human males to mate with. By the way, just so you'll know, a lamia will never leave her husband, they mate for life. Mia and I are in it for the long haul!"

Chief Thompson stepped forward and said, "Sorry to break up this little party, but we've got work to do. Remember gentlemen, you are not to discuss this case with anyone not connected to it. The Bryce's have a right to their privacy and I won't have either of you two spoiling things for them."

Jorge and Brad nodded in agreement and the trio loaded the babbling woman into the truck, climbed in and drove back down the hill.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Rachel spoke up and said, "I'm going to have the fence checked, Chief Thompson thinks they may have cut a hole in the fence somewhere. Our security people will handle watching over this place whenever you're out of town George, Mia will be very safe."

George frowned a bit and remarked, "That may be so, but, I will be teaching her how to shoot a pistol at least, that guy could have shot her."

Rachel nodded in agreement and said. "I'll stay over tonight and help clean up a bit. Tomorrow, I'll get a crew up here to repair the door and secure the house. I've got a feeling that your honeymoon is almost over, sorry about that!" George shrugged and commented in agreement, "Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too. I am going to send a message to my in-laws telling them that Mia is having 'difficulties' and bad morning sickness, or whatever it will take to get her family out of that damn sand trap."

Rachel sighed and pulled out her phone, moments later she said, "Honey? I'm gonna have to ruin our evening together. I'm really sorry about this, but we've had a situation and the rangers are involved." She paused a few moments and replied, "I'm fine, in fact I'm great. My field agent, George Bryce and his new wife..." Rachel laughed and said, "I'm just as shocked as you are, babe. Anywho, they were involved in a shoot out and two bad guys are dead now..." She paused again, then said, "I can't give you all the details, except to say it got pretty hairy for a moment or two. We're all good but Mia..." Again she paused, "Mia is George's new wife, he met her in Algeria and we brought her back here to the ranch house. As I've been trying to say, she's pretty upset and the idiots trashed the place pretty bad. I'm going to stay here tonight and help straighten things up." She paused one last time, smiled and said softly, "I love you too and we will be making up for lost play time! Bye now."

Rachel spent the night to help George and Mia clean up the mess made by the trespassers and restore the pilfered items back to their rightful places. To his amazement and relief, they had overlooked the simmering crockpot he had set up earlier that day. They had gotten into their wine though, much to Mia's disgust. After eating the miraculously overlooked dinner, George propped the door back into its jamb and put a couple of long screws in it to hold it up. Mia and Rachel had finished up the cleaning by the time he was done propping up the battered door, and were relaxing in the living room with what little wine the trespassers had left them, when he returned from putting his tools away.

That night, Mia showed off her new clothing. The clothiers Sara had recommended had really gone all out for her, with several blouse and skirt combinations that gave her a pretty nice wardrobe without it being overly elaborate for daily wear. She even showed off her new brassieres, of which she had several in increasingly scanty aspect. George blushed a bit at the sight of the delicate underthings that scarcely supported the rondure of Mia's ample bosom. Rachel burst out laughing and declared happily,

"My God, you are an innocent! You still blush at the sight of a naked woman? Mia, he is a treasure, guard him with your life!"

Mia blushed a bit herself and asked shyly, "Don't you get excited at the sight of your husband naked?" Rachel grinned and retorted, "I'm an old married woman, puhlease!" then she paused, grinned and said, "Yeah, I still look at him, he's not perfect, but we've grown into each other!"

Mia got sick the next morning and while George was fussing over her. Rachel just smiled and called a private physician she knew, one who specialized in difficult pregnancies, "Hello Doctor Sims, this is Rachel Thompson, I'd like to make an appointment for someone. It's just morning sickness right now, but I want her looked at to make sure everything's alright."

She listened for a few moments and replied, "Yes, she's the woman we gave you all the medical data on. Oh yes, she has been sexually active, very active! That's why I suspect a pregnancy." she paused a few more moments and then said, "Okay! Thursday at 2:00 P.M. Yes, I'll be bringing her in the back entrance. Thanks Doctor Sims, we'll see you Thursday!"

Rachel glanced over and saw that they were looking at her, she declared in a matter of fact tone, "I've made a doctor's appointment for you Mia. I think you're pregnant and want to get you looked at by a doctor affiliated with our organization. She's already seen your body scans and is familiar with your anatomy."

Mia smiled weakly and said, "We lamias usually get pregnant the very first time we mate, I expected this." George started blushing and grinning, then he said cheerfully, "Wow! I'm gonna be a father!"

He quickly sobered up and said quietly, "My parents are both dead and my twin sisters and I were put into foster homes, I have some cousins on my mom's side though I haven't been in touch with them for years and Mia would probably freak them right out."

Rachel asked, "Why's that? Aside from the obvious?" He grinned and replied, "They're pretty religious, as in 'gimme that old time religion' religious. Mia would be quite the shock!" Rachel shrugged and remarked, "It's their loss my friend, their loss."

Doctor Tanja Sims finished examining Mia , peeled off her exam gloves and washed her hands. She pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her aquiline nose, picked up her notepad and studied it for a few moments. Raising her eyes Doctor Sims said evenly, "Mia is definitely pregnant alright and she is in very good health. Still, I want her to come in about every three weeks just to be sure."

Tanja Sims looked right at Mia and said earnestly, "Mia, your pregnancy is very special to us and to me. No lamia pregnancy has ever been monitored before and I'm afraid you're going to feel like a lab rat after a while. So I'm going to apologize in advance!"

Mia smiled shyly and asked timidly, "Is it okay for us to... Um...You know...?" her face reddened and she fell silent, too embarrassed to finish her question. Tanja smiled at her and said softly, "Of course you can, you're quite healthy and sex will be no problem at all for both of you."

Mia just blushed some more and averted her eyes while George just reddened a bit.

Rachel smiled and said to Tanja, "I'd sure like to know where this legend of the lamia being a wicked seductress came from. They can't leave each other alone, yet they will blush like school kids when the topic of sex or even nudity comes up." Tanja grinned and replied, "I'm an MD, not a mythologist. I can't answer that, all I can say is Mia has perfectly normal reproductive organs and aside from her reptilian tail, is within human parameters. Her skull and mandible are slightly prognathous, but only an anatomist would really notice it."

"Prognathous?" Asked George.

"Prognathous means her jaw protrudes a bit more than most humans and her jaw can open a bit wider too, about ten degrees more than average. To accommodate her folding fangs I suppose." Replied Tanja Sims, MD. George had a fleeting memory of Mia's mouth opening wide and her fangs sinking into his neck to seal their bond.

The next day, Rachel arrived bright and early, following her was a couple of work trucks and a crew of four men. Stopping in the driveway, they piled out and stood about sipping at their coffee cups and looking the house over as Rachel exited her own SUV.

George came out of the house and Rachel called out to him, " Good morning! This is Tom Burroughs and his crew, they're going to look the place over and make some repairs to the damage from the other day."

George grinned at Tom and extended his hand, "How ya doin'?" he said as they shook hands briefly, Tom grinned back at him and replied, "Can't complain, I hear you had a little trouble out here and need a broken door looked at."

One of the men who resembled a young Tom Burroughs, walked over to the front door, looked it over briefly and called out,"Dad! They broke the door frame pretty good when they kicked in the door. We might need to replace it."

Tom walked over and looked over the splintered door frame himself. He turned to George and Rachel and said, "We can do a quick repair to secure the door, but to do it right and have it match the house, we're gonna have to restore this. To do it justice."

Rachel nodded and replied, "I'm going to leave it up to you Tom, this house has been in your care since we got it."

Tom grinned and said to George, "My dad originally built this place back in the sixties, I used to come out here on weekends and help out when I was a kid." George grinned back and said, "Well, we'll keep out of your way then, you know this place far better than I do."

Tom turned to his son and said, "When you do the tear out, be as gentle as possible, okay Jeff?" Jeff nodded and replied, "Gotcha!"

Tom turned to Rachel and asked curiously, "You mentioned that one of the people living here was very special, can you tell me anything about this?"

Rachel smiled at Tom and asked him, "Are you, or any of your men, afraid of snakes? Really big snakes?"

Tom grinned at her and replied, "I'm a Nam vet, I saw some pretty freaky things in the jungle including some big ass snakes!"

George smiled at Tom and said, "I've seen some freaky things too in the jungles of southeast Asia. But nothing like this, My wife is a lamia from southern Algeria, we brought her here and hope to bring her family here in the near future."

Rachel smiled at Tom and remarked, "You've worked for us for a while now, so we know you're not prone to being rash."

George asked, "Would you like to meet her?"

Tom simply shrugged and replied, "Now's as good a time as any, we'll be seeing her soon enough anyway."

George turned and called out, "Mia? Could you come out here? I want you to meet some people who will be fixing the house."

Moments later, Mia sinuated out of the house wearing a halter top and a short blue denim skirt, revealing her shapely arms, trim waist, swaying hips and massive pythonic tail. She came up to them, coiled up her massive tail and sat on it. She smiled shyly at the men and said, "Hello!".

Tom whistled and said in amazement, "You look like a python swallowed your legs. I've seen some really big pythons in Vietnam, when I was there, but you've got them all beat!"

Jeff and the other men just gawked briefly, one of them named Danny commented, "My sister Sara is going to flip when I tell her about you."

Rachel said quickly, "I'm afraid I'm going to have ask you to be quiet about Mia and no photos, it's a matter of life and death for her family."

Danny looked slightly crestfallen and said ruefully, "Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Sara used to work in the reptile house at the San Diego zoo. She would absolutely flip over you." George grinned at him and asked, "Is your last name Thompson?"

When Danny nodded a yes, George remarked, "If you're related to the Sara Thompson who works at the University of Phoenix medical imaging department. She has already seen Mia, her and the Wharton family who run the..."

"Seriously?!" He cried, "Even they know about this? This is so unfair!"

Rachel laughed and said, "We did tell her not to say anything to anyone, so it's not like it was a personal choice of hers."

He grinned at her and replied, "That actually makes it better, Sara always shares things with me, not being able to say anything must be killing her! I'll let her know that I've met Mia too, after I've had a little fun with her." His sly chuckle did not bode well for Sara Thompson, his younger sister.

While the men tore out the broken door frame and chipped back the plasterwork, George and Mia led Rachel and Tom down to a fairly level area near the house where a natural spring trickled from the hillside.

Once there, George paused and gestured about, "Mia and I think this would be a good place to put a few houses. This spring could feed a cistern to use for watering some fruit trees and a few crops of vegetables, If we trucked in a few hundred yards of topsoil we could grow most of our own food right here. Putting solar panels on top of all the buildings could make enough electricity to light the place up nicely if we use only L.E.D. Lighting."

Mia spoke up and said, "We could make the houses to be suitable for both humans and lamias. George and I have been thinking about this a lot and we hope that my family will be more willing to leave Algeria if they have homes to go to."

Tom looked the area over and commented,"Building here would be fairly easy, the grade is fairly level so there wouldn't be a lot of grading and scraping necessary to build. We can handle pretty much any sort of thing you want to build. What we need is architectural drawings for both the houses and the landscaping. Then there is the sewerage to consider, where is the waste water going to go?"

Rachel grinned at him and replied, "We'll handle all of that, are you willing to build it?" Tom simply grinned. Rachel chuckled and said, "Yeah, I can't believe I asked that dumb question either."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The big Chevy Tahoe pulled up in the driveway of the ranch and parked next to a much used Chevy pick up truck and an older Toyota 4 runner. After a moment, the SUV's doors opened and the passengers exited the vehicle.

Rachel squinted against the mid morning sun and her children looked around at the house and its environs. Her husband Keith said, "Man, this place is remote! No wonder you spend the night out here so much. I would not want to drive this road at night!" looking around, he asked, "So where is everybody?"

As if in answer to his query, the front door opened and George came out with a big grin on his face, he said, "Hi! Glad you could make it. Mia's out on the patio with everybody, c'mon in!"

The children ceased their fidgeting and looked up at him with wide eyed curiosity. Kevin, Rachel's son asked, "Are we gonna meet a real live...?" he frowned and paused a moment, his younger sister Mary blurted out, "Lamia, you dummy!"

The boy glared at his sister and stoutly declared, "That's what I was gonna say!"

Rachel rolled her eyes and said sternly, "What'd I tell you two about yelling?"

Keith chuckled as he and George clasped hands in greeting, he said cheerfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you George, I've wanted to meet the guy who takes up so much of my wife's time."

George grinned back and replied apologetically, "I'm sorry about that, we really do appreciate her help, if that helps any. With Mia now pregnant, Rachel's connections come in really handy."

Keith grinned and retorted, "You sure you want kids? I could lend you mine from time to time!"

George chuckled and replied, "We are kind of committed already. Thanks for the offer though!" Rachel elbowed Keith and said, "You're gonna give our kids a complex you know!"

He just laughed and scooped up little Mary who dissolved into the giggles when he blew a big raspberry into her tummy.

Rachel again rolled her eyes and commented to George, "I lied, I actually have three kids! One is just disguised as an adult, but I know better!" George grinned and led them into the house and out to the patio where everybody else was gathered.

A large trailer mounted barbecue was laden with cooking meats and bubbling pots of beans, chili and foil wrapped vegetables steaming . Jorge Ortiz was tending the barbecue, whistling to himself as he wielded tongs and spatula, continually adjusting and turning over the sizzling chicken, ribs and steaks while occasionally stirring one of the bubbling pots with a long handled spoon.

His wife, Rosa was talking to Mia and Sara while they laid out the table ware on the long table. The three of them were wearing white cotton peasant blouses and ruffled black skirts in keeping with the southwestern theme.

Mia's pretty face lit up when she saw Rachel and she sinuated out from behind the long table. When her serpentine portion came into view, Rachel's family collectively gaped at the sight of her massive, pythonic tail.

Keith whistled softly and said, "Wow! Rachel wasn't kidding, you really are a lamia!"

Kevin grinned and exclaimed, "Wow! Wait'll I tell my friends!"

Rachel immediately grabbed him by his shoulder and said very firmly, "You are not to tell anyone about Mia, do you understand that, young man?"

Kevin nodded rapidly and gulped, Rachel glanced over at a wide eyed Mary and said, "This also applies to you, okay?" Mary mimicked her brothers actions.

Rachel relaxed and said more calmly, "We can't tell anyone about Mia just yet, okay? The rest of her family is still in Algeria and if bad people were to find out about them, they might hurt them. So until I tell you it's okay to talk to your friends about Mia, you're not to talk about her."

Rachel turned and hugged Mia then she turned to her family and said, "Everybody, this is Mia." She glanced at her and said, "Mia, this is my family. Keith my husband, Kevin my son and Mary my daughter." Mia smiled at Rachel's family and said happily, "It's so nice to meet you at last, I've heard so much about you guys!"

Little Mary said very shyly. "You're really pretty, I wish you were little so I could play with you." Mia blushed and smiled at her, then replied, "I do have a younger sister, she's about twelve. When we can get her here, you two can play together, okay?"

Kevin asked, "Do you have a younger brother?"

Mia shook her pretty head and said "No honey, lamias are only girls. There are no boy lamias." Kevin's young face screwed itself into a question face and he said, "Huh?! No boy lamia's? Why's that?" Mia smiled at him and replied, "I'm not sure myself, it's just the way it is I'm afraid."

Keith chuckled and tousled his son's hair as he said, "Don't worry Kev, Mia has a younger sister, maybe she'll like you!"

The boy made a face and he blurted out, "No thanks! Girls are yucky." The adults all laughed and Rachel commented, "He'll change his mind in a little while. Once his voice changes, girls will suddenly look much better." Rachel leaned closer to George and muttered, "What I'm not looking forward to is Mary hitting the boy crazy years!"

Keith lightly grasped George's elbow and asked, "I brought some things, could you give me a hand?" Following him out to the big SUV, George watched as Keith opened up the back and stepped aside, there were several ice chests nestled in the back. Keith grinned at him and patted the biggest one, "This one has the drinks, I got beers and wines and soft drinks all iced up and ready to serve. These others have salads and salsas, Rachel makes really good salsa for a gringo girl." He said proudly.

George grinned at him and said, "She's been teaching Mia some of her recipes when she comes out here and I know Mia will enjoy the different flavors." The two men grinned at each other and took hold of the biggest ice chest and heaved it out of the SUV. George grunted and said, "Damn...This thing's heavy! How'd you get it into the truck in the first place?"

Keith chuckled and replied, "I filled it up after I put it in the back, I'm not busting my nuts trying to lift this thing when it's full!" Keith pulled on the handle while George pushed and it rolled easily through the garage and out onto the patio. Next, they brought in the remaining ice chests and a couple of folding tables for the salad fixings and salsa bar.

Rachel and Rosa Ortiz came over and set up the salads and salsa bar. Rosa cheerfully sampled Rachel's salsa making efforts and said, "This is really good! Where did you learn about salsa?" Rachel grinned and replied, "I learned about Mexican foods when I was growing up. My best friend lived next door and I was always getting invited over for meals, since my mom couldn't boil water I was more than happy to eat her mom's cooking!"

"Evidently you took notes, these salsas are quite authentic!" Remarked Rosa with a grin. "I had a good teacher. Mama Hernandez was only too happy to teach me alongside her own girls about Mexican cooking. I also took cooking courses while in college as an elective, it was an easy 'A'."

Jorge called out, "Everything's just about ready so grab a plate and a bowl and get in line." They quickly grabbed the aforementioned items and got in line while Jorge turned down the burners on the grill. Mia on the other hand, went over to the table and sat down on her coils while George loaded her plate with succulent bits of grilled beef and chicken. Placing this before her, he returned to the barbecue with a couple of bowls and helped himself to the chili and the beans, balancing a foil wrapped bundle on top of the bowls he laid them before his queen.

Then he served himself. His last task was to lift a couple of beers out of the cooler. Mia lifted her meat laden plate and her long forked tongue flickered in and out of her mouth a couple of times before she smiled and exclaimed, "It all smells so good! I don't know where to begin."

George grinned at her and remarked, "Now you know why I wanted us to have a barbecue, the smell of barbecuing meat is almost too good for mere mortals. Once I found out about Jorge and Rosa's barbecue set up, it was only a matter of when, not if."

Before long, the table was crowded with everyone all eating and talking at once.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Claymores mentioned in passing, I do not own 'Claymore'.

George finished attaching the photos of Mia's growing baby bump to their email and hit "send" Half a world away her family would get the email and could see the pictures and read about their adventures in America. As always, he included an invitation for her family to join them in America. Mia sinuated into the room and announced, "Your lunch is ready, dear. Eat it before I do, after all, I'm eating for two now!"

He rose from his chair and squeezed her gently before heading out to the kitchen for his lunch. The nursery was nearly finished now and soon, would receive its first tenant, their first child. As he ate, Mia sat on her coils across from him and ate her own lunch. Or rather, she ate her own, then happily stole half of his lunch, that which he didn't just share with her anyway. Mia glanced at the calendar and remarked, "Rachel's picking me up tomorrow to see Doctor Sims, what are your plans?"

George replied between bites of his sandwich, " Tomorrow? I'm gonna meet with Tom Burroughs about where to put in a few more fruit trees or date palms on the off chance we can finally prevail on your mom to move here. I figure that if there is a place of her liking for her to move into, then maybe she'll listen to reason."

Mia smiled and absentmindedly caressed her growing baby bump as she said, "I want my family here for this, maybe if we have an oasis of our own waiting for them, they'll want to come here." George grinned at her and replied, "That's why we've been planting all the fruit trees and have the garden area all finished up. It'll save us a lot of 'driving into town' time for certain."

Mia grinned and said happily, "That means you'll be with me more, right?"

George grinned at her and nodded a 'yes', Mia squealed and slipped her long tail around him to pull him closer. After a slow, sweet kiss, their lips parted reluctantly and Mia carried George into their bedroom for the rest of the day.

The next morning, Rachel pulled up in front of the house and got out, Mia came out of the house with her holding bag slung over her shoulder and a big smile on her face. George was already out with Tom Burroughs looking over areas to plant more fruit trees and a couple of finish carpenters were putting up the newly delivered cabinets and counter tops for the nursery.

Rachel had a bulky manila envelope under her arm, Mia glanced at it and Rachel commented, "It's work related, sorry!"

Mia frowned slightly and said ruefully, "I was wondering when he would have to go back to work. I'm grateful for the time I've had him all to myself, but now I have to share him again."

Rachel grinned and remarked, "He's not going out of this country anymore, not unless it's family related. This assignment is stateside and not too far from here actually."

That evening after Rachel brought Mia back from her doctors appointment and Mia had insisted on having Rachel stay for dinner. George opened the bulky envelope, inside were photos of some blonde haired athletic looking women and several pages of notes.

George glanced at the items briefly and asked, "Okay, what is this all about? Who are these ladies and just what is a 'claymore' aside from an anti-personnel mine, a really big sword or a legendary warrior?"

Rachel grinned at him and replied, "For starters, these ladies are some of the 'claymores' or at least that's what they were called at one time. Your assignment is to discreetly monitor their activities, in particular, this one."

She held up a photo of a tall blonde walking alongside a much shorter, Asian woman.

"Her name is Sheila Ericcson for now, she has gone by many names over the years. Lately, she has become friendly with this woman, an author named Anna Karlsen. Her real name is Anastasia Karloff."

Rachel held up another photo showing Sheila Ericcson talking to a slim blonde wearing loose clothing and a very big hat.

George looked at the photos and the notes laid out again and asked, "These people don't look very mysterious to me, why is there such an interest in them?"

Rachel grinned at him and said, "Anna Karlsen is a 250 year old vampire and Sheila Ericcson is about 7,500 years old, give or take a century or two. Vampires and the surviving claymores have no history of conflict and have largely stayed away from each other. For these two to have become friendly is a bit unusual, we're just curious that's all."

George gaped at the numbers Rachel had stated and declared, "7,500 years old?! How is this possible? None of the vampires I've ever heard about are much over 2,000 years old!"

Rachel smiled at him and said pleasantly, "Many of your questions will be answered in the notes I gave you. You will pose as a telephone repairman and will simply monitor their communications."

George raised his eyebrows and asked, "You just want me to listen to their phone calls? No first contact, no establishing a contact? I'm a little confused here."

Rachel replied, "We have been working with both the vampires and one of the claymores, but not both at once. Our bosses are wondering about the activity between the Ericcson woman and Anna Karlsen. The connection between them seems to be from a woman named Susana Basa who is an avid reader of Ms. Karlsen's books." Rachel tapped her finger on the photo of Sheila Ericcson and the small Asian woman for emphasis.

George shrugged and said, " Okay, when do I start?"

"We'll wait til the new lamia housing gets further along here, Tom and his people will be doing the work so Mia won't be alone. In the meantime, read the notes and familiarize yourself with the eavesdropping equipment." Replied Rachel.

During the day George would help out with the construction of lamia suitable houses near their house and with the remodeling of the bathroom on their own house as well. The bathrooms would have a large tub for soaking in and special toilets added for the use by a lamia. While Mia enjoyed the outside hot tub for soaking in and it saw regular use in that regard. It wasn't really appropriate for bathing in and as the weather got cooler with the approaching winter, it would get covered up.

At night, he was studying up on the materials that Rachel had given him on the claymores and the vampire kingdom. He also worked with the eavesdropping equipment he would be using during his assignment. Mia was starting to really show her pregnancy now and was wearing looser maternity clothes for comfort.

The slinkier clothing she had bought for George's sake would have to wait until after the girl was born. They were now sending letters and photos to her family on a weekly basis along with progress reports on the houses being built for her family. Roger Tate was also sending regular reports on how her family was getting along and on local fundamentalist militia activities.

That news wasn't encouraging, foreigners were being watched closely and Roger was definitely a foreigner. Henri Du Valliere at one point, nearly had his Antonov confiscated, fortunately when they had come for his plane, it was during an overhaul and the plane was in bits. His Algerian wife graciously served them some really strong sweetened coffee and they went away for the time being.

The sudden French invasion of Mali a few weeks later took all of them by greatly increasing Islamist activity in the remoter parts of Mali had become of great concern to the French. Henri DuValliere being a former French airforce reservist and having recently lost his Antonov to the Islamists had immediately reported for duty. The French air force appreciating his experience in flying over the Sahara, happily gave him back his commission and an airplane. Roger Tate was arrested as an undesirable foreigner and firmly escorted out of the country of Algeria.

He promptly contacted Rachel, George and Henri via a Skype conference call and declared, "If we're going to get Mia's family out, we'd better do it really soon. With all that's going on in Mali? A chinook helicopter taken for a joyride shouldn't be noticed! Henri? Does your pilot's training cover helicopters?"

Henri could be heard to chuckle and he replied, "Ah, but of course! And I have a commander who is, how do you say it? Unconcerned about what I do with his aircraft, so long as he doesn't hear about it!"

Roger laughed and said cheerfully, "I'm gonna book a flight to Mali and hook up with you Henri, and we can explore the possibilities!" Henri grinned at the webcam and remarked, "And I will alert my long suffering wife to hide the silver!"

Roger grinned and retorted, "Don't tell me she's still sore about that?"

Rachel keeping the conference on track noted, "There's a new moon in about four weeks, let's shoot for that, shall we?"

George remarked, "This gives me about a week or so to eavesdrop on these ladies we're so interested in and see if there's anything we need to be concerned about."

Roger looked at them through the webcam and asked, "How is my girl doing, George? How's the baby coming along?"

George grinned and said happily, "We just found out, we're having twins! Mia is over the moon about this and I haven't told her folks, so keep yer yap shut!"

The remainder of the web conference was a torrent of heartfelt congratulations delivered to a blushing George Bryce, field agent for the Museum of Cryptozoology.

That morning, Rachel drove him to the airport where he caught a short flight to Van Nuys, California. There he would pick up the surveillance van from an employee of the phone company. Mia had accompanied them to the airport and they held each other closely before kissing good bye, George watched Mia's amber eyes welling up with tears as they drove off.

His heart feeling heavy, he got in line to board the flight and held in his feelings. He would get this assignment over with as quickly as possible and get back to his precious bride and the babies growing inside her body.

The most recent ultrasound had revealed twins. The news had stunned Mia and at first, Rachel and George didn't fully understand her reaction to the news.

When she finally found her voice, she declared, "Lamias don't have twins, it has never happened before, so far as I know. Mom will be shocked as much as I was."

She looked thoughtful until finally, she laughed and said gaily, "That explains why I've gotten so big! I'm carrying twins!"

She grinned happily and said conspiratorially, "Let's not tell mom just yet, I wanna see the look on her face when she hears the news!"

That evening, George was sitting in the utility van near the nondescript house in the Sherman Oaks part of the San Fernando Valley. He was posing as a telephone repairman, but actually eavesdropping on the events unfolding inside the modest stucco structure.

The trio of blonde amazons had entered the house and his best microphones were picking up tantalizing bits of the conversations inside, he'd heard the term "Claymore" and "Your Majesty" several times now and was adjusting the signal strength to hear better when the door to his van opened suddenly, and strong hands hauled him outside the van and quickly relieved him of his pistol and identification.

A bulky man with feral eyes spoke in a voice that was little more than a growl, "The Queen will see you now!" Moments later, with little dignity left, a rumpled looking George Bryce found himself standing before the queen of the hidden realm. Her Majesty, Queen Henrietta Maria.

Author's comments: I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. George Bryce was introduced in an earlier tale I had written and I decided to 'flesh' him out a bit. This is the result. The world they live in also has other fantastic creatures living in it. Aside from the usual vampires and werewolves, there are also frost giants and arachne as well. I have written about them and will, depending on how this is received, post these tales at a later date. Thank you for your time in reading this effort.


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